Campaign Chest, 2019
Medium: wood, glass, powdered coated steel case, mixed media contents
Dimensions: 36 x 89 x 17 ¼ inches (open)
36 x 42 x 17 ¼” closed
Fabricated by Tom Oliphant and Scott McGlasson
Collection of the artist

The title of this work refers to a type of furniture made to hold a person’s most essential belongings during travel. Bart’s inspiration comes from early twentieth-century French artist Marcel Duchamp’s Box in a Valise (1931–41), a series of suitcase-like boxes displaying small replicas of this conceptual artist’s work. Bart’s “chest” contains studies and fragments from larger projects, rather than replicas she made after actual artworks, and speaks to her tendency to introduce elements from her past work to new contexts and ideas.

This object is a kind of miniature of the artist’s studio, a carefully considered space where Bart experiments with ever-changing arrangements and juxtapositions of objects from different moments and stages in her career.

Publication:

  • Abracadabra and Other Forms of Protection, Laura Wertheim Joseph editor and curator, Weisman Art Museum

Exhibition: