Allan McCollum is a contemporary American artist whose work often blurs the boundary between unique artifacts and mass production. Interested in how objects attain cultural value, McCollum’s Surrogate Paintings are uniquely produced yet intended to seem manufactured, questioning both the process of labor and the value of authorship. Employing plaster, rubber, and cement, he has created sculptures resembling framed paintings, fossilized bones, antique urns, and household objects. “When I first decided to be an artist, I was interested in exploring self-referential angles on how our culture defines a ‘painting,’” he reflected. “I quickly realized that a painting is ultimately defined by its context. And all contexts are within other contexts ...