HOUSTON—November 2, 2023—The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will present the exhibition Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage from February 18 to May 12, 2024.

Organized by the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, Multiplicity is the first major museum exhibition devoted to this rich yet understudied subject. Featuring some 80 collage and collage-informed works, the exhibition explores the breadth and complexity of Black identity and experiences in the United States.

With an intergenerational group of 52 living artists, Multiplicity examines how concepts such as cultural hybridity, notions of beauty, gender fluidity, and historical memory are expressed in the practice of collage. By assembling pieces of paper, fabric, and other often-salvaged or repurposed materials, the artists in this exhibition create unified compositions that express the endless possibilities of Black-constructed narratives despite our fragmented society. The artists range from established luminaries to early- and mid-career figures, including Mark Bradford, Lauren Halsey, Rashid Johnson, Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, Deborah Roberts, Tschabalala Self, Lorna Simpson, Devan Shimoyama, and Mickalene Thomas.

“We are pleased to present this groundbreaking exhibition, drawing attention to the richness of collage as an art form and its role in expressing Black identity over multiple generations of artists,” said Gary Tinterow, Director, the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “It is also especially significant for Houston audiences that Multiplicity features the work of a number of notable artists who are so closely identified with this city, including Tay Butler, Jamal Cyrus, Rick Lowe, and Lovie Olivia.”

This groundbreaking exhibition brings attention to the richness of collage as an art form. Building upon the legacy of African American artists such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold, and Betye Saar, contemporary artists make collages in an array of ways, from traditional cutting and pasting to creating works digitally. Arthur Jafa takes digital collage a step further, gathering highs and lows of Black experiences into his poignant video montage Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death.

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