Modern Lab: Material Interventions

February 11 – September 30, 2012
East Building, Upper Level

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

The Modern Lab is a small gallery dedicated to focused installations of modern and contemporary works in a variety of media from the Gallery's collection.

Overview: Appealingly tactile and visually provocative, the works in this installation engage the senses through their distinctive materiality. Created with wax, dirt, thread, and other unconventional items, they emphasize the power of materials to inform content and convey meaning. Blurring traditional boundaries between media—by combining painting with sculpture, sewing with printmaking, or sculpture with photography—the artists whose work is presented establish new, hybrid forms of art. With their innovative and at times surprising use of materials, these artists intervene in our normal viewing habits focusing our attention on how we experience art.