A Midsummer Night's Dream XVII (after William Shakespeare), Tim Rollins + K.O.S.

Artwork Overview

Tim Rollins + K.O.S., A Midsummer Night's Dream XVII (after William Shakespeare)
Tim Rollins + K.O.S., A Midsummer Night's Dream XVII (after William Shakespeare)
Tim Rollins + K.O.S.
A Midsummer Night's Dream XVII (after William Shakespeare)
2001
A Midsummer Night's Dream XVII (after William Shakespeare), 2001
Where object was made: Salina, Kansas, United States
Material/technique: watercolor; canvas; fruit juice; aquaba paper; rag paper; xerography; collage; mustard seed
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 42 x 48 in
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 106.7 x 122 cm
Credit line: Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund
Accession number: 2002.0015
Not on display
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Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Dreams and Portals," Jun-2008, Kris Ercums and Susan Earle
Intro Label:
This summer display features selections from the Spencer’s permanent collection, including works that may evoke dreams and ideas of place, near and far.
The works range in media from painting and watercolor to collage, textile, and video. Some may transport you to other places, such as the lyrical "Blue Door (La Porte Bleue)" by French artist Pierre Lesieur. Reflecting the artist’s travels to North Africa, this painting evokes the sea or an open door in a way that suggests a dream, or a portal.
Many works feature abstract imagery, at times suggestive of dreams, or passages to other landscapes, be they of the mind or actual places. Others combine abstraction and figuration, like the William T. Wiley drawing
"Feeding Time." Others teeter between realism and abstraction, such as "Foam Chrome II" by Gary Pruner.
A portal can be defined as a door or gate or entrance, especially a grand or imposing one. Paintings themselves are like portals. They allow us to enter worlds and spaces like nothing else can.
Let your mind wander and see what dreams you might recall, or what new perspectives you might gain.
Label:
Tim Rollins and his collaborators, high-school students from the South Bronx in New York, typically make works of art based, literally, on classic literature. In this case, Rollins also collaborated with students in Salina, Kansas, during a residency held at the Salina Art Center in 2001. This spirited painting is the result of that activity. Rollins and the students worked on and responded to a portion of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Exhibitions

Dreams and Portals
Susan Earle, curator
Kris Ercums, curator
2008
Conversation VIII: Serious Play
Susan Earle, curator
Kate Meyer, curator
2010
Inventing Childhood
Cassandra Mesick Braun, curator
2016–2017

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 153 Jul-2008 I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. A painting in the Spencer collection presents a plethora of overlapping patches of bright, blended colors, suggesting a gorgeous bed of flowers. Approaching the work, we discover that the floral forms are laid over a grid of book pages affixed to the canvas. They are pages from Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which is also the title of this work by Tim Rollins and Kids of Survival. Rollins formed Kids of Survival in 1982 when he took a teaching job in the South Bronx to create a special art course for students with educational and emotional disabilities. Since then, Rollins and his students across the country and around the world have created works of art based on literary texts, often combining, as in the Spencer piece, the actual text pages with images painted over them. Rollins looks for a diverse group of students, often finding those who dislike school but love art. Through their intense interaction, Rollins and his collaborators create remarkable works of artistic and social significance. The Spencer piece was made by Rollins and students in Salina, Kansas, during the artist’s 2001 residency at the Salina Art Center. From the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.