The Old, Weird America | Folk Themes in Contemporary Art

Cover Design By Sonny Windstrup with Don Quaintance

Edited By Toby Kamps

Forward By Linda Shearer

With Essays By Michael Duncan and Colleen Sheehy

This catalogue is published by the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston to accompany the exhibition The Old, Weird America organized by Toby Kamps, Senior Curator, for the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (May 10–July 20, 2008). This exhibition was coordinated for the Frye Art Museum from October 3, 2009–January 3, 2010 by Robin Held, Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections (2004-2009).

The exhibition considers a widespread resurgence of folk themes in recent art from the United States, the artists included in the exhibition participate in and reflect upon folklore’s fraught role in the quest for roots, values, and authenticity. Featuring a wide range of media—sculpture, drawing, photography, and video—The Old, Weird America includes artwork by Jeremy Blake, Sam Durant, Barnaby Furnas, Matthew Day Jackson, Brad Kahlhamer, Margaret Kilgallen, Dario Robleto, Allison Smith, Kara Walker, and Charlie White, among others.

This catalogue includes essays by Toby Kamps, Michael Duncan and Colleen Sheehy, full-color illustrations, an index of the exhibition artwork, as well as artist’s biographies and bibliographies compiled by Natalia Ferreyra-Beasley.

162 pages, full color illustrations

11.5 x 9.75 in

Hardcover, 2008

Catalogues published before 2010 have been in storage and may have small signs of wear and tear.