Nasher to unveil first major purchase

The Nasher Museum of Art always draws a crowd. And each month, the museum opens its doors for the public to meet an artist and mingle in the new gallery.

Tonight's monthly event, however, marks an especially important watershed for the museum-the unveiling of the museum's first purchase of art, a sculpture by New York-based artist Petah Coyne.

Coyne is scheduled to give a lecture at 5:30 p.m. in the museum's auditorium followed by a reception. The artist is known for creating habitats or environments in which single art forms interact to create energetic, vibrant worlds.

The sculpture purchased by the Nasher, "Untitled #1111 (Little Ed's Daughter Margaret)," is an 11-foot, three-dimensional collage of materials exhibiting Coyne's unique style. It borrows qualities from elements such as tree branches, water, wax, taxidermy and satin.

Coyne herself shares qualities with her larger-than-life artwork: the sculptor has been described by BOMB Magazine as a "burst of drive, grace, of humor, delight and fun."

"I am pleased to bring this dramatic work of art to Durham," said Kim Rorschach, Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans director of the Nasher. "We are delighted to have the opportunity to purchase a major piece by an artist whose work moves us, and whose contributions to the development of contemporary art are significant."

Whether the piece will be well received by the general public is purely a question of time. With other purchases in the works, "Untitled #1111" marks the first of many exciting adjustments to the museum's collection.