Mirror, Mirror

Beginning in the early 1960s, mirrors and reflection dominated the art scene. Sleek, shiny surfaces, echoing the popular fascination with the space race, heralded a new order in art. Feeling that Abstract Expressionism with its rejection of representation was a dead end, a younger generation of artists responded by using common objects and industrial materials in their creative process, both as subject matter and as medium. By using mirrors, they inserted the viewer as subject.

This exhibition, drawn entirely from the Wadsworth Atheneum’s permanent collection, presents mirrored works by Larry Bell, Sam Durant, Virgil Marti, Michalengelo Pistoletto, Lucas Samaras, and James Seawright, exploring many of the themes associated with mirrors, including the visual tensions between flatness and depth; movement and a fixed image; and reflection and translucency; as well as issues of identity, community, and social engagement.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.