Tara Donovan

October 10, 2008—January 4, 2009
The ICA is organizing the first major museum survey of the American sculptor. Donovan transforms large quantities of mass-produced items— drinking straws, toothpicks, buttons —into stunning works of phenomenal impact.

Artist Tara Donovan uses commonplace consumer materials—toothpicks, tape, pencils, buttons, paper plates, and the like—to create her dazzling sculptural installations. Often biomorphic or topographical in character, her large-scale abstract works utilize systematic arrangements of thousands or even millions of units. Visually evocative and perceptually seductive, her pieces are at once organic and highly structured. Donovan has been recognized for her commitment to process and her ability to discover how the inherent physical characteristics of an object might allow it to be transformed into art.

Published in conjunction with a major solo exhibition at the Institute for Contemporary Art/Boston, this book is the first to document Donovan's complete oeuvre, from her beginnings working in ink to her most recent pieces. Among the many works shown are Untitled (Plastic Cups), a 50-by-60-foot landscape of plastic cups; Haze, a 42-foot-long wall of over two million clear plastic drinking straws stacked like wood; and her three 40-inch cubes, one of steel pins, one of toothpicks, and one of shattered glass. An in-depth conversation between Donovan and Lawrence Weschler traces the artist's schooling, early career, and current work.

Hardcover
160 pages

By Tara Donovan, Nicholas Baume, Jen Mergel and Lawrence Weschler

Nicholas Baume

Jen Mergel