STANFORD, CA.- The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University announces “Pop to Present,” March 18-August 16, 2009, the third in a yearlong series of exhibitions highlighting the museum's acquisitions from the past decade. This lively selection of modern and contemporary works - in particular American art made since the 1960s - is built on pre-existing strengths, such as Bay Area painting, while the pursuit of new collecting arenas includes northern California ceramics and contemporary prints.

“Our collection program has been very active this last decade,” said Hilarie Faberman, the Center's curator of modern and contemporary art. “This 10-year anniversary of the museum's reopening after the Loma Prieta earthquake provides the opportunity to celebrate the Center's growth and share the enthusiasm of curators who have purchased art for the collection and collectors who have donated works.”

The exhibition highlights several areas, including painting and sculpture by Bay Area artists such as David Park, Manuel Neri, Robert Arneson, and Elmer Bischoff; prints by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein; contemporary graphics by Jim Dine and Peter Milton; and abstract painting by Richard Anuszkiewicz, Al Held, and Sean Scully. These are displayed thematically and in formal and historical relationships. In addition to works by well known artists such as Robert Motherwell, there are selections by lesser known, younger figures. The show features approximately 60 works, including paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs.

"Rather than presenting a survey or overview of art since the 1960s, the museum's collection development plan during the last decade - reflected in 'Pop to Present' - focuses on specific artists and genre,” explained Faberman. “Particularly noteworthy, for example, are four works by sculptor Robert Arneson. The selection includes a recently 'rediscovered' work, His and Hers - one of his 'funk johns' - a group of handmade toilets that scandalized the American ceramics community in the mid 1960s.”

“Pop to Present” is made possible by the Clumeck Fund, Susan and John Diekman Director's Discretionary Fund, the Cowles Charitable Trust, and the Contemporary Collectors Circle.