Artworks made of multiple elements are not new to the modern era but contemporary artists have pushed their direction and visual potential. Through conceptual, metaphorical, and experimental lenses, artists literally make one object, or one ultimate work, out of many pieces. These components that evolve into a whole features a wide range of media and approaches—both two and three-dimensional—that expand this conversation.

This part-to-whole idea is further underscored with the print matrix, molds, assemblages, quilt components and other modes of serial-thinking where one or two pieces could stand in for the whole but a different message is conveyed when larger numbers of works are viewed together at once.

Featured artists are Libby Chaney, Dayzwhun, PJ Hargraves, Martin Higgins, Donna Webb, Russell Stephanchick, Brian Moran, Beth Lindenberger, Robert Wright and Donna Webb.

Image credit Beth Lindenberger