Columbus Dr. Building, Room 203
Bethany Collins is a multidisciplinary artist whose conceptually driven work is fueled by a critical exploration of how race and language interact. In her Contronym series, Collins transposes definitions from Webster’s New World Dictionary onto American Masters paper, then obscures much of the entries with eraser. What remains are snippets of meaning, poetically charged through their isolation as well as the crumbled paper bits left behind by her erasing. As Holland Cotter noted in the New York Times, "language itself, viewed as intrinsically racialized, is Collins' primary material."
Her works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationwide, including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Drawing Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Birmingham Museum of Art. Collins has been recognized as an Artist-in- Residence at the Studio Museum, the MacDowell Colony, the Bemis Center and the Hyde Park Art Center. In 2015, she was awarded the Hudgens Prize.
Language is the subject and material of Collins' work, which encompasses an expanded definition of drawing. Collins will discuss the origins and shifting role of language in her practice as part of her Visiting Artist talk.
