to the inchoate with a wordless pictorialism, whether abstractly or symbolically. Of Mythic Worlds maps a universe of belief systems connected and diverse at the same time. Though there is a narrative to the show, it turns out to be less of a tale and more of a visual picture of an attitude towards the art object. In this exhibition, works on paper have magical associations; they are portals to other dimensions— mental, spiritual, psycho-geographical, and otherwise. Arranged around the gallery as individual entities, the space surrounding each art work gives them a precious, almost sacred quality. In these works, all marks are mandalas and all mandalas are abstract drawings. For a small exhibition, Of Mythic Worlds tackles enormous ideas and travels in time across a vast art historical and geographic landscape. It is a contemporary exhibition not only because it includes some works that have been created in the past five years but because its theme of searching for existential meaning—that which lies beyond our verbal capacity to describe it—is something that all of us have experienced in these challenging times. All of us at The Drawing Center are grateful to Olivia Shao for bringing this provocative and beautiful show and its accompanying publication to The Drawing Center. Institutional and private lenders are thanked separately by the curator, but The Drawing Center reiterates its gratitude for the collegiality of lending institutions like The Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Shaker Museum in Chatham and New Lebanon, New York. Lead financial support for Of Mythic Worlds has been provided by the Burger Collection, Hong Kong, and the TOY family, along with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Generous funding is provided by the ADAA Foundation, the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Art, and Lonti Ebers. Additional support is provided by The Director’s Circle of The Drawing Center. We are grateful to all of these funders as their visions are ambitious, challenging, compassionate, and in every way equal to that of Olivia Shao, our extraordinary guest curator.
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