Allan McCollum: Master of Mass-Distinction

Watch the exclusive full interview with Allan McCollum here: &t=113s

American master-artist debuts new show MINIME VARIAZIONI in Milan

American contemporary artist Allan McCollum marks his return to Italy after 15 years with a special 660-piece exhibit designed for the main space of Galleria Fumagalli, on view until March 29, 2024.

At the opening night on January 18, Radio Bocconi hosts Elisabeth Hofer and Natalia Papuashvili had the pleasure of interviewing the artist, sparking conversations about the potential meanings behind his art pieces, their context within his body of work over the years, and the inspirations as well as self-reflection that led to their creation.

While Minime Variazioni (Minimum Variations) is comprised of Drawings and Plaster Surrogates, two series of artworks originally conceived more than 30 years ago, both collections were curated just for this show. Additionally, these Plaster Surrogates were born out of a heartfelt collaboration with California-based artist Andrea Zittel, who McCollum reveres professionally and as a friend.

The collaborative nature of McCollum’s creative process takes a front-seat in his large-scale projects. Whether it’s working closely with other artists or finding the right people to do certain things he might not be an expert in, it is palpable that McCollum enjoys approaching his art pieces as group work.

Drawings, for instance, were made by many pencil-wielding hands, including that of McCollum’s friends and friends of friends. “That was the nice thing, because many artists just work alone all the time. Well, I’m that way, too!” he laughs. The stencils used for the graphite drawings, which feature unique combinations of top-halves and bottom-halves, were designed by McCollum and custom-made by a fabricator in Arizona, while the blonde frames were produced in Ireland.

Courtesy of Galleria Fumagalli. Photo Credits: Veronica Tremolada.

“All of my artwork is based on the idea of work,” says NY-based McCollum. “Like many artists, I’m interested in the concept of work, more than skill and having a perfect eye.” With multiple working-class jobs under his belt, such as at restaurants and truck-driving, he takes a strong interest in exploring class systems found even in the art world.

“The Industrial Revolution,” he explains, “where you started getting hundreds of the same thing over and over again, had an effect on people wanting to say ‘Oh, we only have unique objects.’” In other words, it created a world where the mass-produced is not considered chic enough and everyone wants something special. “There was a kind of snobbery [that] I thought would be interesting to play with.”

“The strange thing to me about what we call Fine Arts is that you don’t see it in quantities,” he continues. So, he set sail to create collections of pieces that look alike yet are distinctive on their own.  By merging quantities with uniqueness, his artworks juxtapose the beauty of finding similarities in large groups to the subtle but noteworthy individuality of each.

He credits his fascination with mass-uniqueness to a simple moment of reflection during a vacation: while looking closely at the sand on a beach, he realized every single grain of sand is different from the thousands of other unique grains of sand. “I thought, oh my gosh, that’s what I want! I started imitating that in a way,” he recalls, adding that he had never talked about this anecdote before.

This reflection, of course, can be applied to our own desire to stand out in a crowd while also, somehow, fitting in. “It’s important to feel that you’re unique,” McCollum says, quickly noting that, at other times, you may want to feel a sense of belonging. The human experience thrives on this paradox.

Drawings invites viewers to find themselves, perhaps, represented by a particular piece within the collection. Inspired by the European practice of heraldry, McCollum views each drawing as a potential portrait of someone, similar yet distinct from the rest. This is all subjective, however. “I don’t think I’m expecting people to interpret it a certain way,” he clarifies. “The fun thing about being an artist is that your work is open to all kinds of interpretations depending on who looks at it.”

“Although,” McCollum adds with a smile while looking over at Drawings, “I hope that nobody calls them paintings.”

– Elisabeth Hofer

View Allan McCollum’s MINIME VARIAZIONE: Drawings and Plaster Surrogates until March 29, 2024:

Galleria Fumagalli

Via Bonaventura Cavalieri 6, 20121 Milano, Italy

Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 1-7pm