Designed by fsc student and agb design fellow, riley karau

At their core, art museums are all about how we see, learn from, and interact with art — and art history. We dive into the backstories of artists’ lives. We dissect the meaning underlying artists’ aesthetic and formal decisions. We like and dislike art that simply doesn’t match our tastes. But a key element of our experience visiting a museum is often overlooked or not even realized:  What is our physical relationship with the artwork we view in the space of a gallery?  

In this installation of works from our permanent collection and on loan to the Museum, we present works both large and small, differentiated not merely by style, geography, or chronology, but also by matters of scale.  As viewers — and museum visitors attuned to not getting too close to works of art* — we tend to stand back from the largest works of art. Conversely, we feel like it is necessary to lean in more closely to a diminutive work of art.  

*While close-looking is encouraged, please don’t get TOO close. (Mark Rothko recommended 18-inches as the ideal viewing distance for his own paintings.)