‘It Can Be Nightmarish, or It Can Be Wonderful’: Watch Artist Allan McCollum Assemble Installations of Thousands of Identical Objects

Starting his working life in industrial kitchens, the American
artist Allan McCollum has been thinking about large production
systems for just about his entire life. When he began a serious art
practice, it was inevitable that he would be thinking about the
original versus the reproduction, and how value is assigned based
on scarcity rather than abundance.

In an exclusive interview as part of Art21’s Art in the
Twenty-First Century program, the artist is filmed at work in his
studio ahead of the 2009 São
Paolo Biennial, where he presented a large-scale installation of
1,800 drawings called The Shapes
Project (1988–91).  

“I found myself wanting to work in quantities and make things
that were singular and unique at the same time,” he tells Art21,
adding that his work is about trying to resolve the issue of
uniqueness on a higher level.

An installation by McCollum
touches on the sublime, bringing together hundreds upon hundreds of
copies of the same thing, reproduced with only slight variations.
He knows it’s a scary prospect—and at the same time, he delights in
it. “There is, of course, the drama of thousands of things,” he
told Art21. “It can be nightmarish, or it can be a wonderful
feeling of abundance, and it can go back and
forth.” 

Though it is currently closed, the ICA Miami has organized the largest retrospective of
McCollum’s work to date with a mid-career show that spans 50 years,
ending with his most recent interventions, which he calls “regional
projects.” At a time when the future of museums and art in general
is uncertain, his simple, yet profound, collections of objects and
symbols offer an intriguing and meditative distraction.

Watch the video, which originally appeared as part
of Art21’s PBS series Art in the Twenty-First Century, below.
“Allan McCollum: Works Since 1969” at ICA Miami is
closed temporarily; more information is available on the museum’s
website.

This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration
between Artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking
artists. A new series of the nonprofit Art21’s flagship series Art
in the Twenty-First Century is available now on PBS. Catch episodes
of other series like “New York Close Up” and “Extended Play” and
learn about the organization’s educational programs
at Art21.org.

The post ‘It Can Be Nightmarish, or It Can Be Wonderful’:
Watch Artist Allan McCollum Assemble Installations of Thousands of
Identical Objects appeared first on artnet News.