Peter Coffin, Untitled (Dog), 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Mugrabi Collection. © Peter Coffin. Photo: Cathy Carver
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Independence Ave. at 7th St., SW
Washington, DC
Peter Coffin (b. 1972; lives and works in New York) has created an unpredictable and eclectic array of works, including many that express a sense of joy and sometimes humor. The artist, whose practice includes photography, assemblage, performance, time-based media, installations, sound art, and sculpture in many forms, often draws inspiration from odd facts or obscure theories. To emphasize the artist’s chameleon-like virtuosity, the works in the exhibition, rather than being concentrated within one exhibition area, are installed in spaces around the museum. Nature, science, pseudo-science, psychological displacement, urban happenstance, and “what if” brainstorms are among the myriad departure points for his pieces, but what is constant is the undercurrent of his unique, exuberant subversiveness.
