Self-Taught Artist Thornton Dial

Lost Cows, 2000-2001
The bones here are the skeletons of a small herd of cows that died soon after Dial bought them. "Lost cows" refers to Dial's lost investment and also to the vanished world of the rural South. Tucked among the skeletons is a leather golf bag, a wry notion of the cows' "rebirth" in another form.

"Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial" will be on view at the Indianapolis Museum of Art until Sept. 18, then travel to New Orleans, Charlotte, N.C., and ­Atlanta.

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