The Toledo Museum of Art Displays "Small Worlds"

Written by Eugene Threlfall Wednesday, 18 April 2012 22:27

Toldeo, Ohio.- The Toledo Museum of Art is pleased to present "Small Worlds" on view at the museum through March 25th 2012. As its name suggests, "Small Worlds" brings together intricate, charming, disquieting and thoughtful works of art on the smallest of scales. Each of the engaging works creates an intimate space or environment and shows scenes which are familiar but perhaps slightly askew. The five contemporary artists represented offer us more than 40 small worlds rendered as relief paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs. There also are video and art installations, a fully functional 65-square-foot house, and objects created specifically for this show that, in some cases,incorporate facets of the Toledo Museum of Art and its environs. The concept of “world” is both universal and highly personal because our worlds are shaped by individual experiences and imaginations. The intricate, intriguing works in Small Worlds explore the realms of the home, the studio, the neighborhood, the city and the natural world, said Amy Gilman, curator of contemporary art, associate director of the Museum and organizer of the exhibition. “These works encourage the viewer to consider space and perspective in different ways,” says Gilman.

“We may feel oversized when peering at Gregory Euclide's miniature ecosystems, yet small and disoriented when we're surrounded by Tabaimo's video installation depicting a Japanese home where the walls become the ceiling and reality is turned upside-down.“Rich in detail, the dioramas of Joe Fig's artist studios and Lori Nix's post-apocalyptic scenes are likewise miniaturized and breathtaking in their realism. Visitors may find Charlie Kanwischer's silverpoint drawings uncannily familiar. For this exhibition, the northwest Ohio resident created a dozen new works depicting homes within a half-mile radius of the Museum. Community partners The Andersons and The Lathrop Company donated materials, labor and space to build the “XS”, the smallest model home designed by the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. “XS” stands for extra small and excessively efficient. The house measures just 65 square feet and weighs 4,000 pounds. Built on a 7' x 11' utility trailer, its easily transported to the Museum for the exhibition. Among its other features are a living room with build-in desk and couch, a kitchenette and a loft bedroom big enough for a queen-size mattress.


Since its founding in 1901, the Toledo Museum of Art has earned a global reputation for the quality of the collection, its innovative and extensive education programs, and the architecturally significant campus. More than 30,000 works of art represent American and European painting, the history of art in glass, ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian works, Asian and African art, medieval art, sculpture, decorative arts, graphic arts, and modern and contemporary art. To accommodate the ever growing collection and demand for art education, the Museum campus has grown exponentially since its founding. From its humble first exhibition space in two rented rooms, the Museum has grown to cover approximately 36 acres with six buildings. The main Museum building interior contains four and a half acres of floor space on two levels. It has 45 galleries, 15 classroom studios, the 1,750-seat Peristyle concert hall, the 176-seat Little Theater lecture hall, the Resource Center for Educators, the Family Center, the Visual Resources Collection, the Museum Café, and the Museum Store featuring Collector’s Corner. The Glass Pavilion has five galleries, a glass study room, classrooms, two hotshops, a multipurpose GlasSalon, public and private courtyard space, and a coffee bar. Thanks to the benevolence of its founders, as well as the continued support of its members, the Toledo Museum of Art remains a privately-endowed, non-profit institution and opens its collection to the public—free of charge—six days a week, 309 days a year.  The Toledo Museum of Art’s collection of more than 30,000 works of art ranks among the finest in the United States. Over more than 35 galleries, a Sculpture Garden, and Glass Pavilion, visitors can discover important, popular, and outstanding works of art, including paintings and sculptures by Romare Bearden, Paul Cézanne, Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, El Greco, Hans Holbein, Anselm Kiefer, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, and J. M. W. Turner; masterworks from antiquity and Asia; decorative arts; and highlights from the renowned glass collection. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.toledomuseum.org

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