Allan McCollum is an American artist whose practice centers on repetition, serial production, and the social life of objects. Since the 1970s he has developed large-scale systems for generating unique yet clearly related forms, often in quantities that overwhelm typical expectations of edition or series.
Early projects involved casting ordinary items—such as bones or industrial components—in plaster or resin, arranging them in dense displays that blur distinctions between individual and type. Later, McCollum created “surrogates” and “shapes” designed through procedural rules, each object technically unique but visually part of a larger family.
These works often respond to specific contexts: museums, regional histories, or vernacular collecting practices. McCollum collaborates with institutions and communities to produce objects that circulate as gifts, souvenirs, or dispersed collections, drawing attention to how value and meaning accumulate through distribution.
The installations are meticulously organized. Rows, grids, and wall-to-wall arrangements emphasize the scale of production and make counting impossible at a glance. Viewers sense both the individuality of each piece and its near-interchangeability, a tension that mirrors how culture handles images and artifacts more broadly.
Across decades, McCollum has maintained a consistent interest in how art functions in everyday life—as keepsake, token, or symbol—using overproduction as a way to question scarcity, authorship, and the idea of a singular masterpiece.
Allan McCollum is an American artist known for large-scale, systems-based projects that generate vast numbers of unique yet related objects. His work has been widely exhibited and is represented in major museum collections.
Allan McCollum is an American artist whose systems-based projects produce large numbers of unique yet closely related objects, examining how value, authorship, and collecting operate in contemporary culture. His work has been widely shown and collected internationally.
