Blurry Boundaries: Contemporary Artists, Imagination, and the Spaces Between

 

On a certain level, being imaginative means producing things in the mind that exist independent of reality, including scenarios that are invented or fantastic. While there may still be connections to day-to-day reality, the scenes, sensations, or ideas within the imagination are fictions. However, philosophically, it could be argued that what happens in the mind is just a different kind of reality. This vagueness about defining what truly is—or is not—real leaves potential for artists to investigate, create, and actualize their own narratives.

Blurry Boundaries addresses these ambiguities, or spaces between, by sharing a wide range of works—including sculpture, painting, prints, and art jewelry. There are invented characters, versions of legendary tales, musings about death, and scenes that simultaneously seem real and unreal. With narratives operating in a space between fiction, fantasy, and reality, the contemporary artists whose works are included represent a variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

Primarily drawn from RAM’s collection, the exhibition spotlights loans from Wisconsin-based Yeonhee Cheong and Illinois-based Paul Andrew Wandless. Cheong’s textiles address the almost incomprehensibility of tragedy while Wandless’ ceramic vessels and prints are filled with invented characters and scenarios. Additionally, the loan of Lost at Sea by Edouard Duval-Carrié represents a newly formed partnership between RAM and Art Bridges, a foundation dedicated to expanding access to American art across the nation. Duval-Carrié’s large-scale two-dimensional work addresses the propaganda of paradise, responding to the way historical imagery sometimes diminished cultural identity.