Image: Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul
‘Signs of Refusal’ is a photographic collage made from photographs of 117 stop signs encountered throughout Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge. The work’s source material is therefore specified as photographs of stop signs encountered across Minneapolis during the operation identified in its description. ‘Gbanganla’ is an oil painting celebrating Liberia’s culture, land, and heritage. Its description identifies the painting’s medium and the cultural, geographic, and historical subjects it celebrates.
The M is the only major art museum in Minnesota—or, really, anywhere—to acquire an artwork from the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition every year, a practice in place since at least 2011. That practice connects the museum’s annual acquisition to the State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition and extends back at least to 2011.
The museum presents the annual acquisition practice as one example of its commitment to supporting living Minnesota artists, sending the message that art made here is valuable, treasured, and unique. The M State Fair Purchase Award honors a Minnesota-first intention by celebrating and supporting regional living artists while allowing their stories to be shared from within the museum’s collection.
The emphasis on fine art at the State Fair dates to Clement Haupers, superintendent of the Fine Arts Department of the Minnesota State Fair from 1931 to 1942.
