Out of Bounds

Christie Neptune, untitled video still, Light Years Apart, 2021-2025, web-based interactive film, HD 1080p. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Hamiltonian Artists and The Kreeger Museum are pleased to present Out of Bounds, an exhibition of the work of seven Hamiltonian Artists Alumni (Selin Balci, Larry W. Cook, Joyce Yu-Jean Lee, Christie Neptune, Allison Spence, Kyle Tata, and Jing (Ellen) Xu) on view at The Kreeger Museum from October 15 through December 31, 2026.

Borrowed from the language of sport, Out of Bounds refers to the space beyond the limits of play. Figuratively, it can describe actions, ideas, or behaviors that go against accepted rules or expectations. Working across painting, photo, sculpture, video, and installation, the artists presented in Out of Bounds consider what it means to question, cross, or redraw established boundaries.

The Hamiltonian alumni’s work will be exhibited alongside selected contemporary works from The Kreeger Museum's permanent collection, including artists Sam Gilliam, Frank Stella, Simmie Knox, and William Christenberry. Each of these artists was an iconoclast in their day, rejecting rigid geometries and traditional methods of paint application, and pushing the limits of fine art mediums and subject matter. The Hamiltonian alumni bring a similar spirit of ingenuity to their anti-disciplinary practices—experimenting with materials and challenging conventions of figuration and representation.

Some may argue that boundaries exist to be dismantled; as so often, they are imposed to include and to exclude. This exhibition invites the viewer to reconsider who gets to define the rules, and who has the power to enforce them. What is at stake when boundaries are crossed? What becomes possible on the other side of spontaneity and risk? Each artist featured in Out of Bounds approaches these questions through acts of disruption and reimagining, pointing toward the vast possibilities that emerge when established structures are tested.

This exhibition is curated by Anisa Olufemi, director of programs and curator at Hamiltonian Artists, and presented under The Collaborative, a program developed by The Kreeger Museum in 2021 to support Washington-area artists.