The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

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September 19, 2004, to January 5, 2005 |

Bottle: Contemporary Art and Vernacular Tradition

The bottle, while asserting timelessness, simultaneously embodies and symbolizes the ephemeral, a perfect marriage of beauty and fragility. The works gathered for this exhibition present the bottle as not only a locus of meaning, but also as an object with intrinsic aesthetic characteristics. In an age increasingly governed by electronic media, these humble containers hold a collective fascination that transcends both time and place.

Joseph Beuys, Dove Bradshaw, Bethany Bristow, Tony Feher, Phil Frost, David Hammons, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Whitfield Lovell, Josiah McElheny, Barry McGee, Sean Mellyn, Maria Porges, Charles Ray, Alison Saar, Claude Simard, and Kiki Smith

Installation Images

Gallery with three clear bottles on pedestals to the left; Wall mounted metal shelf with smaller bottles on right.
Bottles arranged in a large ring; Aluminum bucket on its side at top of ring. Ring set in a pile of black lava-like rocks that serve as base..
L to R: Ten shiny brown bottles on wall shelf; vitrine with globes; print of faceless woman on wall, amber bottles on stool; red and orange bottles on wall.
Left to Right: Tall bottle with amber liquid: three small perfume-like clear bottles with silver caps and religious iconography on front of each bottle.
Gallery View
Left: plastic bottles hanging on white cord. Right: clear bottles arranged in large circle on wooden floor.