Taking David Hockney’s painting Shirley Goldfarb + Gregory Masurovsky (1974) as its point of departure, this exhibition focuses on portraits of artist pairs. The presentation considers not only how each painting conveys aspects of the subjects’ identities as individuals and artists, but also how the selection and placement of sitters draws attention to the relationships and psychological connections between them. Side by Side is the first exhibition to demonstrate how artworks from the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection will be remixed with those from the museum’s collection and elsewhere to introduce fresh perspectives and ideas. The show includes paintings as varied as Frida Kahlo’s Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931) and Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Wedding Portrait (2012), as well as a new work by Bay Area artist Travis Collinson created for Side by Side.
Collinson pulled a well-worn chair from ceramicist Richard Shaw's studio out into the garden for the portrait sitting with his daughter, photographer Alice shaw, that resulted in this painting. A fixture of the Bay Area art community since the 1960s, Shaw is known for his troupe l'oeil assemblages of everyday objects, meticulously executed in clay. For Collinson the tattered chair alludes to the Funk movement with which Shaw is associated; the title and the insect on the table are also nods to his work, which often incorporates Lepidoptera such as moths and butterflies.
Collinson starts with raw forms and lets them grow together organically, an approach he connects to his background in cartooning and its emphasis on capturing characters in a few basic shapes. He often intermixes carefully observed elements with near abstractions, as seen here in the fabric on the chair, the leaves, and the patio stones.

mpefm USA art press release