Challenging Narratives: The Vicki and Kent Logan Collection in Denver.
Yang Shaobin - Untitled 1999–-4
Beginning January 16, 2022, the Denver Art Museum presents "Disruption: Works from the Vicki and Kent Logan Collection."
Source: Denver Art Museum (DAM). Image: Yang Shaobin, "Untitled, (1999- 4)," 1999. Oil on linen. Gift of Vicki and Kent Logan to the collection of the Denver Art Museum, 2001.882A-B. © Yang Shaobin
More than 20 years ago, collectors Vicki and Kent Logan initiated a process of donating artworks to the Denver Art Museum that, to date, has resulted in the transfer to that institution of more than 300 works by contemporary artists such as Jenny Saville, Kent Monkman, Elmgreen and Dragset, Agustina Woodgate, Glenn Ligon, Yang Shaobin, and Zhang Dali, among others. The exhibition that opens next January 16 selects some 50 works from that collection that, as the museum explains in a press release, "question the past, the world today, and the social spaces we navigate—upending political narratives, questioning our rights of freedom and access, subverting notions of identity, contesting social norms, critiquing consumer culture and imagining dystopian alternate realities."
In a clear nod to popular culture, each section of the exhibition takes its name from the title of a Pop song, from "Fight the power" (in reference to Public Enemy's hip-hop anthem) to "It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)" (title of the famous track from REM's "Document" album). Reinforcing this idea, visitors to the exhibition will have access to a Spotify playlist of the songs that accompany each of the sections.
"Disruptions embed themselves in a network and continuum spanning time, place, and culture (...) We hope visitors will gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which artists challenge norms and push boundaries through disruptive actions," explained Laura F. Almeida, curator of the exhibition. For his part, Kent Logan stated that "Vicki and I hope that these works create opportunities for visitors (...) to reflect on how the concepts of cultural or social norms, surveillance and consumerism show up in their own lives".

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