Positive Fragmentation

Uses of the fragmentary in contemporary art, from Louise Bourgeois to Kara Walker

Drawn from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, Positive Fragmentation includes more than 150 works by 21 artists who use fragmentation both stylistically and conceptually. Betye Saar and Wendy Red Star construct new meanings through repurposed imagery, while Lorna Simpson, Ellen Gallagher and Jenny Holzer use fragmented text to reveal the limitations and power of language. Other artists, such as Louise Bourgeois and Wangechi Mutu, isolate body parts or combine them from disparate sources to probe assumptions about gender and race. Nicola Lopez and Sarah Morris both use architecture, whose elements-beams, girders, wiring-they rearrange to emphasize unseen social forces that support or destabilize our environments. Other artists featured include Polly Apfelbaum, Jennifer Bartlett, Christiane Baumgartner, Cecily Brown, Judy Chicago, Nicole Eisenman, Julie Mehretu, Judy Pfaff, Swoon, Barbara Takenaga, Mickalene Thomas and Kara Walker.