80 x 149-1/2 in.
Purchased with funds provided by Mark Demerly, Mark and Jean Easter, Kent Hawryluk, Susie Jacobs, Pat and James LaCrosse Ron Reeve, Anna and James White, Trent Spence, George and Jan Rubin, and Mary Wicker
Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Goff + Rosenthal Gallery, New York
Type A is the collaboration of Adam Ames (b. 1969) and Andrew Bordwin (b. 1964), who have worked together since 1998. Employing a variety of media, Type A creates artworks that address issues of masculinity, competition and collaboration in contemporary society.
Part of their Push series, which includes video, drawings and photographs, this large-scale drawing is a document of a performance conducted in their studio, where the two artists operated as opposing forces in an act that blended both competition and collaboration. To create the drawing, Bordwin and Ames took turns standing, then pushing each other across the surface of a large piece of paper. They then outlined the steps that each had taken, and the areas in which they fell, numbering them systematically to diagram a sequence of movement. While charting through their bodies a distillation of a competitive drive, they simultaneously created a work that represents a constructive creative partnership.
The artists described the project: "The result is part dance chart, part Twister, part motion study. The paper becomes a wrestling ring or battleground, the evidence of each push documented with footprints and smudges. The drawings exist as detailed evidence, a brief history of itself that can be used to reconstruct the entire process after the fact by carefully examining and sequencing each footprint. Each drawing is made by choice and by chance. Pushes are made with intention, whether to accentuate an emerging structure in the drawing, create a specific effect, or avoid certain resolved areas. The element of chance is always present, and the drawing emerges as much by chaos as by order. Composure and control are lost, then regained, and the resolution recorded."
Metadata about the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection comes from Newfields’ records and research. In some cases, information may be incomplete and research is ongoing. Newfields’ goal is to have as up-to-date metadata as possible, therefore, this information is subject to change. Newfields collections’ metadata is available under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver, which allows for re-use without legal restrictions.
Artworks that appear in the image file(s) above may be in copyright or have other legal and/or cultural restrictions to their use. For clarity, Newfields does not claim copyright to the image files created by Newfields of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Newfields makes every effort to ascertain the copyright status of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Please refer to the RightsStatements.org statement above for information about the current copyright status of the artwork. Additionally, some artworks may include Local Context’s Notices or Labels that attribute cultural authority of the artwork’s heritage and data.
Additional information about Newfields’ reproduction guidelines can be found in the Licensing Resources.
4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 46208-3326 | 317-923-1331
Copyright © 2024 Newfields. All rights reserved.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-251861-OMS-22].