Gift of John Andrew MacMahon '95

"Tile Photograph 4" and "Tile Photograph 7" come from Welling’s abstract explorations of the 1980s. Shortly after moving to New York in 1978, the artist began to experiment with photographing unusual objects like aluminum foil, drapery velvet, ink infused gelatin, and, as pictured here, plastic tiles. First exhibited in 1985, these Tile Photographs contributed to a larger dialogue of the time; along with contemporaries such as James Casebere, Sarah Charlesworth, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, and others, Welling sought to critically evaluate the medium of photography, particularly its stance as a purely documentary source.