Sam Durant Gift to Wende
Sam Durant, Occupation, Lies, Illegal, Respect, Supremacy, Freedom, 2016. Wende Museum, gift of Cliff Einstein Collector Cliff Einstein has given the Wende Museum a 2016 work by Sam Durant. Occupation, Lies, Illegal, Respect, Supremacy, Freedom is a plywood-mounted mirror sprayed with political graffiti, some backward. It's a departure for the Wende, being a contemporary work by an American artist. Since 2023, however, Durant has taught at Stuttgart's State Academy of Fine Arts. His graffiti pieces have parallels in the Wende's collection of dissident art and artifacts from the Eastern Bloc. Einstein is chairman emeritus of MOCA's board and, with wife Mandy, a prominent collector. He has also given the Wende a photographic piece by Ukrainian artist Illya Chichkan, Opium (2009). Both Einstein gifts are on view.
