Allan McCollum (American, b.1944) is a contemporary artist, born in Los Angeles, who now lives and works in New York. After first working as an actor, then attending trade school, he eventually decided to educate himself in art, taking on an art handling position to learn more about the Contemporary art world. Often physically produced by other people, his work consists of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and multiples. Mass production is used in McCollum’s work to blur the line between what is unique and what is uniform. This theme is conveyed throughout a number of important works and series, notably the 1988 installation Perfect Vehicles at the Venice Biennale, the well-known Shapes Project, and Each and Every One of You, a project executed in 2010. Shapes from Maine (2005) is another example of the artist’s use of mass production, as he enlisted the skills of four small manufacturers to fabricate individualized versions of objects that might normally be identical, such cookie cutters formed into hundreds of unique shapes. McCollum has worked on several occasions with photographer Laurie Simmons (American, b.1949); in particular, they worked together in the International Center for Photography’s 1988 exhibition, Two to Tango: Collaboration in Recent American Photography. His work has been featured in shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among others around the world.