WFU’s Hanes Art Gallery to host Robert Motherwell exhibition

Wake Forest University’s Hanes Art Gallery is hosting works by American artist Robert Motherwell. “Motherwell: product. placement” opens January 20 and runs through March 29. The exhibition focuses on Motherwell’s collage pieces utilizing everyday materials. 

The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Motherwell, an abstract expressionist painter, printmaker and editor was one of the youngest of the New York School, which also included Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. He taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina in the 1950s.

Several events will be held in Hanes Gallery during the exhibition. Check the website for details.

To create his abstract works on paper, Motherwell cut and pasted commonplace objects such as cigarette packages, sheet music and advertisements alongside areas of pure color. He used objects from modern life to explore the blurred line between his handmade object and the commercial culture. Is one actually more “real” than the other?

Hanes Gallery, located in Scales Fine Arts Center, is open Monday-Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m and Saturday and Sunday: 1 to 5 p.m.