HONOLULU, HAWAil -Trac­ing the transformation of art over eight decades, the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) presents “Past-Forward: Modem and Con­temporary Art from HoMA’s Col­lection.” With painting, sculpture and photographic work, “Past­Forward” explores the evolution of abstract painting in the decades after World War II, the rise of new figurative movements in the 1960s and 70s and the confluence of art and politics in subsequent decades. In addition to the debut of new acquisitions, key works by artists including Robert Rauschenberg and Lee Bontecou return to the galleries for the first time in more than two years.

Almost half of the works in “Past-Forward” are drawn from the nearly 4,000 objects that once comprised the collection of The Contemporary Museum, Honolu­lu. In 2011, The Contemporary Museum gifted its collection and assets to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, merging the two institu­tions and forming the Honolulu Museum of Art.

“The Contemporary Museum was such an important part of Honolulu’s cultural fabric, and we are grateful to steward its col­lection as a part of the Honolulu Museum of Art,” said Halona Norton-Westbrook, director and CEO of HoMA. “Past-Forward’ integrates two outstanding col­lections of modem and contem­porary art while staging a dialog between artists from various backgrounds, geographies and historical periods.”

A significant theme that emerg­es in “Past-Forward” is how art­ists have used unconventional materials, beginning with Robert Rauschenberg’s 1962 work “Tro­phy V (for Jasper Johns).” In a tribute to his fellow artist and ex­romantic partner, Rauschenberg embedded an entire windowpane in this abstract painting, which also features a ruler and card­board box, along with a map and other images that relate to Johns. Alongside this work, the exhibi­tion features a haunting 1964 wall sculpture by Lee Bontecou that incorporates sawblades and soot, as well as a spectacular 1968 arrangement of animal bones, antlers, buttons, glass eyes and other materials by Alfonso Ossorio.

Works by Barbara Kruger, Alexis Smith and Kara Walker demonstrate how artists manip­ulated found materials and his­torical imagery to address the politics of identity in the 1980s and 1990s. Walker’s “The Means to an End … A Shadow Drama in Five Acts” (1995) is one of the art­ist’s earliest silhouette narra­tives that use grotesque and challenging images to explore complex issues of power, race and the history of slavery.

These hallmarks of HoMA’s ool­lection are presented alongside new acquisitions. One of the most recent works in “Past-Forward” is Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s “Rays from a Sinking Sun” (2022). Remi­niscent of a mobile by Alexander Calder, the sculpture incorporat.es unexploded ordinance from the Vietnam War to address memory, trauma and the potential for heal­ing. Another recent acquisition is Gaye Chan’s “Colony (Young Laundry)” (1999, 2023), consist­ing of an antique wooden clothes­hanger and an upside-down min­iature diorama of trees and Chinese pagoda-style buildings. A long-standing Hawaii artist who was born in Hong Kong, Chan’s work often holds feelings of dis­placement and upheaval in ten­sion with those of belonging and community.

“It is always fascinating how artists make something new out of images and objects from the past,” said Tyler Cann, HoMA’s senior curator of moclem and con­temporary art. “Sometimes they make a oonscious break with his­tory, but artists can also help shape our understanding of the present by looking back. Maybe that’s especially true in a cultural moment that feels like it’s acceler­ating in all directions.”

In addition to Chan, “Past-For­ward” highlights contributions by other artists from Hawaii, including George Miyasaki and Ray Yoshida. The exhibition also includes internationally recog­nized artists from Aotearoa New Zealand, Colombia, the Philip• pines and Vietnam, including Brett Graham and Olga de Ama­ral. Together, the works in “Past­Forward” show how a diverse range of artists have expanded cultural conversations over the past seven decades while addressing personal, aesthetic and social concerns.

“Past-Forward” will be on long­term view.

The Honolulu Museum of Art is at 900 South Beretania Street. For information, SOS.-532-8700 or www.honolulumuseum.org.

Image credit: Untitled (from ”The Alquimias” series) by Olga de Amaral, 1989, acrylic, gold leaf, and woven fiber. Honolulu Museum of Art. Gift of The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 2011, and gift of The Dell Family and MSD Capital, L.P. (TCM.2008.lla-c).