The Frances Young Tang
Teaching Museum and Art Gallery
at Skidmore College
815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Phone: 518-580-8080
We’re closed today.
Plan your visit
Adding item...
Past Exhibitions 2024

Abject Anatomy

A drawing in red pen depicts a crowded composition of partially clothed and nude artists; a central figure lifts a crouching body holding a palette and emitting a fart cloud.
Nicole Eisenman, Ecole d'Abjéct, 2006, ink on museum board, 19 ¾ x 17 ¼ x 1 ¼ inches (frame), Tang Teaching Museum collection, gift of Anne and Arthur Goldstein, 2016.25.1
Someone in a red jacket faces a wall with artwork hung on it, at center is a large black and white cartoon portrait of an abstract face.
Installation view, Abject Anatomy, Tang Teaching Museum, 2024, photo by Mindy McDaniel
Framed mixed media art is hung organically on a white wall in two groupings, at the center is a large black and white abstract portrait.
Installation view, Abject Anatomy, Tang Teaching Museum, 2024, photo by Mindy McDaniel
A grid of white frames, two by six, contain collaged artworks.
Installation view of work by Wangechi Mutu in Abject Anatomy, Tang Teaching Museum, 2024, photo by Mindy McDaniel
Five framed artworks of different media are hung on a white wall.
Installation view, Abject Anatomy, Tang Teaching Museum, 2024, photo by Mindy McDaniel
A gallery hallway is illuminated with a row of lights from above, the left wall covered in text, the right with framed artworks.
Installation view, Abject Anatomy, Tang Teaching Museum, 2024, photo by Mindy McDaniel

The artistic transformation of the body into something unrecognizable, disturbing, or abject probes human anxieties about bodily behaviors and desires. Our mind races and our skin crawls as we contemplate the possibility of a grotesque and fantastical metamorphosis of our own. Is this what happens in the absence of control?

While exploring Abject Anatomy you will come across a fleshy mass of unidentifiable limbs, a man using his penis as a paintbrush, and other images that make you hyperaware of the way your skin stretches over your bones. Despite their physical impossibilities, these manipulations of the body represent artists’ desire to visually explore our deeper psychological desires and compulsions.

Abject Anatomy features a selection of photographs, prints, drawings, and paintings from the Tang collection that asks us to reflect on deep-seated fears about our own bodily nonconformance and that of those around us.
This exhibition is organized by Helen Branch ’24, the 2022–2023 Carole Marchand Endowed Intern, and is supported by the Friends of the Tang.
Exhibition Name
Abject Anatomy
Exhibition Type
Student Curated
Group Exhibitions
Place
Winter Gallery
Dates
Feb 10 - Apr 21
Curators
This exhibition is organized by Helen Branch ’24, the 2022–2023 Carole Marchand Endowed Intern.
Artists
Paul Blanca, Louise Bourgeois, Salvador Dalí, Carroll Dunham, Nicole Eisenman, Chitra Ganesh, Nancy Grossman, Rico Lebrun, Frank Magnotta, Wangechi Mutu, Mika Rottenberg, Laurie Simmons, Kiki Smith
Student Staff
Helen headshot2022
Helen Branch
Registrarial Intern, 2022-23 Carole Marchand Endowed Intern, Student Advisory Council, Tang Guide
Past related events
View the full calendar
Apr 18, 6 PM
Framing the Flesh: birth/rebirth (2023)
Apr 12, 12 PM
Curator’s Tour of Abject Anatomy
Apr 4, 6 PM
Framing the Flesh: Eyes Without a Face (1960) & Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Mar 28, 7:30 PM
Framing the Flesh: Crimes of the Future (2022)
Related
Curator’s Tour of Abject Anatomy
Event
Framing the Flesh: birth/rebirth (2023)
Event
Framing the Flesh: Eyes Without a Face (1960) & Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Event
Framing the Flesh: Crimes of the Future (2022)
Event
Helen Branch
Student Staff
i
Pattern as of Dec 2, 5:10:03 pm
daily on-campus page views: 0
daily off-campus page views: 431
current wind in Saratoga Springs: 6.78 mph, WNW
Website design: Linked by Air