The Art Institute of Chicago, preparing for the opening of its Modern Wing in May 2009, is pleased to announce two major acquisitions in the field of contemporary art: Robert Gober’s definitive installation Untitled (1989–1996) and Donald Judd’s Untitled (1976), the only triangular indoor sculpture created by Judd. With the acquisition, earlier this year, of Charles Ray’s monumental Hinoki, the contemporary galleries of the Renzo Piano–designed Modern Wing are close to assuming their final form.“The Modern Wing affords the Art Institute, for the first time, the requisite space for significant contemporary installations and sculpture, such as the works by Gober and Judd,” said James Rondeau, Frances and Thomas Dittmer Chair of Contemporary Art at the Art Institute. “We are looking forward to displaying the contemporary collection in galleries specifically designed for contemporary art, with generous light and space. The two recently acquired works will join an already rich collection and will be featured along with installations devoted to Gerhard Richter, Bruce Nauman, Eva Hesse, Philip Guston, and other leading contemporary artists.”The acquisition of Gober’s Untitled was made possible by a generous gift from the Stefan T. Edlis and H. Gael Neeson Foundation and through prior gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Starrels, and Fowler McCormick.“We have watched the contemporary art collection of the Art Institute of Chicago grow over the years, and we are very excited to be a part of building an already superior collection into a truly renowned collection for the Modern Wing,” said Stefan T. Edlis. “We have always supported the museum’s commitment to contemporary art and feel that Gober’s Untitled will be a centerpiece of the collection and new installation. A work as simultaneously poignant and fearless as Gober’s will no doubt be recognized as one of the signature works of our era.”The acquisition of Donald Judd’s Untitled is made possible through a prior gift of Adeline Yates.American artist Robert Gober is known for his insistently handmade and deceptively simple objects, which are themselves copies of existing objects that Gober has remade to resemble the real. The new acquisition, Untitled (1989–1996), first presented at Paula Cooper Gallery, remains his most important early statement, at once announcing the end of the excesses of the 1980s and inaugurating the coolly critical, identity-based art of the 1990s. It is comprised of ten separate works, including Wedding Gown (1989), a recreated dress made of silk, satin, muslin, tulle, and welded steel; Hanging Man/Sleeping Man (1989), a silkscreened wallpaper with alternating images of a white man sleeping in bed and a lynched black man hanging from a tree; and Untitled (1989/1996), eight sculptures of kitty litter made out of cast hydrostone plaster, vinyl acrylic paint, ink and graphite. The installation is approximately 800 square feet.Arranged in an otherwise bare room, the upright, rigid, and empty wedding gown takes center stage. The wallpaper is installed on three walls, and the kitty litter bags are arranged on the floor, leaning against the walls. Together, the elements suggest a contemporary allegory of gender and race, brought together in Gober’s suggestive and enigmatic idiom. Untitled is a work of symbols jarred by juxtaposition.In a faux-naïve style, reminiscent of 1950s commercial illustration, the wallpaper creates ambiguous sets of meanings. Does the sleeping white man dream in ignorance, or suffer from a haunted nightmare? What sort of collective troubled sleep does Gober reference?