Mechanization, Material, and the Matrix seeks work that showcases the ways in which technology is utilized and
discussed by different artists working across a spectrum of materials and processes and the resulting dialogue between technology and material.
All the major American
artists and works from the seventeenth century to today are included, such as epic history paintings
by Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley; sublime landscapes
by Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt, and Frederick Church; society portraits
by John Singer Sargent; groundbreaking abstract expressionist and pop art
by Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, and Andy Warhol; and challenging sculptural, installation, and video works from more recent years
by Robert Gober, Fred Wilson, and Matthew Barney In architecture, dozens of
different building types are illustrated and
discussed, from the earliest colonial houses and churches to the most spectacular modernist and postmodernist houses, stations, museums, and iconic skyscrapers.