Give/Take

Give / Take
February 13–May 3, 2018
William D. Adams Gallery

The exhibition Give / Take appeared in the Colby Museum’s lobby and featured one artwork
each by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996) and Jennifer Steinkamp (born 1958).
Steinkamp makes digital art, often working on a larger-than life scale. Engineered to mesmerize
and delight, her animations and images have appeared on building exteriors and billboards and
in museum galleries and parks, among other sites. She has conceived more than two dozen
representations of trees dedicated to a few teachers she especially admires. Trees symbolize
strength, shelter, and fruitfulness; in shedding their leaves, deciduous trees manifest the
changing seasons and the cycle of life. The inspiration for Steinkamp’s series was Miss Znerold,
the first-grade teacher who singled out her “sponge trees”––made by repurposing a common
cleaning tool into a printmaking device laden with paint––for special praise. Give / Take
included Judy Crook 5 , a work in the Lunder Collection that pays homage to the art school
professor who introduced Steinkamp to color theory. As part of the installation, visitors were
invited to use paper forms in the shape of leaves to create a drawing celebrating a teacher,
mentor, or other special person in their lives.
A contemporary of Steinkamp, Gonzalez-Torres preferred common everyday materials for the
sculptures, images, and installations that he conceived to embody the social nature of art. His
quietly subversive works exist as offerings to those who encounter them. Give / Take presented
“Untitled” (Portrait of Dad), consisting of an endless supply of white mint candies individually
wrapped in clear cellophane. Envisioning a generous and egalitarian art, Gonzalez-Torres
instrumentalized the matter of participation, orchestrating the opportunity for an exchange––a
give and take––aimed at lessoning the distances between us.

High School