四十个石膏替代品的集合

McCollum has clustered together plaster models of forty monochromatic paintings of various sizes in the dense display style of a nineteenth-century salon. To produce this work, the artist and his assistants engaged in repetitive and communal labor that systematized and broke down the artistic process into stages of production: the creation of molds, the casting of plaster, and the application of enamel paint to create a smooth surface with no trace of the artist’s hand. Although the panels were all executed in this way, no two share the same dimensions and frame color. Handmade but standardized, Collection of Forty Plaster Surrogates integrates art and mass production, challenging conventional distinctions between these types of labor.