Mark Fox, KillR, 2010. Color pencil, linen tape, pencil, and ink on paper with PVA, 20 x 16 x 16 in.
Constructive Interference: Tauba Auerbach and Mark Fox
A special exhibition on view through August 15, 2016, at the Anderson Collection.
Constructive Interference at the Anderson Collection at Stanford University celebrates the accomplishments of two Stanford alumni artists: Tauba Auerbach, who earned her bachelor of arts in visual studies in 2003, and Mark Fox, who earned his master of fine arts in art practice in 1988. The exhibition opened in September 2015 and was timed to celebrate the opening of the newest arts district neighbor, the McMurtry Building for the Department of Art & Art History, where students and faculty will be making, exhibiting and discussing art for generations. Constructive Interference is on view through August 15, 2016.
Auerbach and Fox make us look twice. Their work invites us to peer through tangles of color and line, through once-solid forms, and between multiple dimensions. We’re encouraged to observe from afar and up close, to examine details and question techniques. These artists explore the intersection of process, material manipulation, and chance, and they find inspiration everywhere from physics and astronomy to popular culture and religion. Their successful merging of influences (which could be envisioned as interfering waves), their command of materials, and their attention to detail find harmony in works of art that shed light on the creative process and expand our powers of perception.
Anderson Collection visitors frequently ask if the Anderson family is still collecting art. The works by Auerbach and Fox, on loan from the Andersons and acquired by them as recently as this year, demonstrate the family’s ongoing commitment to collecting and sharing contemporary American art. Their artistic interests are constantly evolving, but they continue to seek out exceptional artworks that exhibit qualities of “the head and the hand” – an idea as inherent in their collecting vision, as it is in Auerbach’s and Fox’s processes.
In addition to being exemplary examples of head and hand creativity, work by renowned alumni artists inspire current Stanford students in their own art studies. As a neighbor to the McMurtry Building for Art & Art History and the Cantor Arts Center, the museum has the opportunity to deeply connect with students as they experience the rich setting of Stanford’s arts district.
