On view in the Museum’s concourse across from the Hoffman Gallery is Untitled (series of eight paintings) by Dallas-based artist Ludwig Schwarz. A multidisciplinary artist who works across video, sculpture, installation, painting and writing, Schwarz’s wide-ranging practice is rooted in conceptualism and is sensitive to the conditions of display. His use of color in paintings that straddle abstraction and figuration has been likened to Matisse, a comparison made evident by this series.

The abstract compositions of these identically scaled paintings represent a variety of styles, from the geometric to the painterly, and in sequence, they resemble a row of icons. The paintings were originally exhibited in a solo show entitled Desktop, and were joined by sculptures comprising found objects, video, and text-based work in an immersive installation.

The show’s title provides a helpful metaphor with which to understand the paintings. Desktops, be they physical or digital, act as portals to the tools and visual information we use to create and understand our world. In a text written to accompany the paintings, Schwarz explores the larger implication of this metaphor for the creative process and how creativity can emerge with, or in spite of, the clutter that inhabits our daily lives.