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PRESS RELEASE
Helen Altman
Dozens
September 9 through October 7, 2006
Dunn and Brown Contemporary is pleased to announce a one-person exhibition of recent work by Helen Altman. Helen Altman will be present at the opening of her exhibition, Dozens, on Saturday, September 9, 2006 from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM. The show will continue through Saturday, October 7, 2006.
For the exhibition Dozens, Altman will exhibit carefully arranged groupings and clusters of mixed media sculptural multiples. These intimate objects, each created in the form of a duplicated multiple, will be installed in arrangements upon the floor, along a single shelf, and scattered across a solitary table within the exhibition space.
The centerpiece of the exhibition will be ten identical versions of My Best Eggs placed on a sixteen-foot-long shelf designed by the artist. Inspired by a unique work of the same title, this multiple is based upon the original, which was a collection of actual eggs taken from the artist’s own pet chickens and delicately placed in a vintage silverware box. For the multiple, Altman has meticulously recreated the subtleties of color and texture with each of the twenty eggs and every detail of the original vintage box. The original box was created as a tribute to Altman’s beloved pets, almost all of whom have since passed away.
On a table, Altman will create an installation of twenty glass snow globes with each containing an identical miniature view of the World Trade Center towers. Reflecting upon this work, Altman stated:
The snow globes were not made in response to the September 11th attack, but made in response to seeing the twin towers in film and television several years afterwards. If I spotted them on television I’d be very startled and think to myself, there they are. It made me feel strange to see them, and I wanted a way to keep them.
As with other works in the exhibition, this multiple contains an undeniable melancholy and quiet nostalgia. Not surprisingly, the immediacy of these objects has an emotional effect on the viewer through not only their subject matter, but also Altman’s choice to repeat and recreate the same object over and over as a multiple.
Helen Altman currently lives and works in Fort Worth, Texas. Recently, her work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, and Norton Museum of Art in Florida. Helen Altman’s artwork is included in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She has been the recipient of awards including the prestigious Engelhard Award and National Endowment for the Arts.
Dunn and Brown Contemporary is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 am until 5:00 pm and by appointment. Please contact Sarah Stork at the gallery or via e-mail at sstork@dunnandbrown.com for additional information or to request visuals of the exhibition.