^ i was there as well this weekend and really felt one of their major issues was that the wing really wasn't "Contemporary Art." Most of the works were from the 1970's through 1990's. Very little was what i would consider Contemporary A.K.A. very recent works. But perhaps that is what the ICA is for.
MFA has partitioned Art such that Contemporary means the artist is likely to still be alive -- not necessarily working
Thus you have a major exhibition of the wood work of Elsworth Kelly along with the gift by the BofA of his famous painting
from a recent review in:
Art News
http://www.artnews.com/2011/09/13/ahead-of-the-curve/
Ahead of the Curve
By Lilly Wei Posted 09/13/11
Ellsworth Kelly’s sculpture, subject of a show at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, makes the complex simple and the simple complex
"
The 87-year-old artist recalled how he went to Paris on the G.I. Bill, from 1948 to 1954, immersing himself in Matisse, Picasso, and the European modernists.... Kelly is extremely busy at the moment, with a catalogue raisonné in the works and multiple museum shows scheduled for this year and into next—at the MFA in Boston, the Haus der Kunst and the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The MFA show (September 18 through March 4), titled “Ellsworth Kelly: Wood Sculpture,” includes 19 of the 30 unpainted wood sculptures that the artist made between 1958 and ’96. These are being shown as a group for the first time and constitute a complete cycle, since, Kelly explained, “I won’t be making any more.”
Well known for his paintings, drawings, and prints, Kelly has received little critical attention for his sculptures—an unfortunate oversight that includes this important body of work."
But there things which are close to a dictionary definition of Contemporary including:
The Clock: Christian Marclay September 16, 2011 - October 10, 2011
"A compelling new work created by world-renowned artist Christian Marclay, The Clock (2010), an ode to time and cinema, comprises thousands of fragments from a range of films that create a 24-hour, looped, single-channel video. The Clock tells the accurate time at any given moment, and wherever..."
From MFA Pres Release on the Linde family Wings:
http://www.mfa.org/news/news-events
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Names Druker Pavilion in Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art
The Ives Family Gallery:
Lynda Benglis’s cast aluminum Wing (1970) and the hand-coiled clay work Sinuous
(2010) from Eva Hild.
Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Gallery: in their name will juxtapose different approaches to contemporary art, featuring Andy Warhol’s Red Disaster (1963/1985), Ellsworth Kelly’s Blue Green and sculpture from artists that include
Tony Smith, Anne Truitt, and Roni Horn.
Towles Gallery:
Louise Lawler’s Is She Ours (1990),
Doug and Mike Starn’s Double Mona Lisa (1985-88) and works by Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura will also be on view.
Cogan Gallery:
Mona Hatoum’s Grater Divide (2002) and Kara Walker’s The Rich Soil Down There (2002).
Lubin Gallery:
El Anatsui’s Black River (2009), a metallic tapestry, and Josiah McElheny’s Endlessly
Repeating Twentieth Century Modernism (2007).
Krupps Gallery:
For the first time, the MFA will have a dedicated light and sound-blocked space, fully equipped for the presentation of video and new media. The inaugural installation will focus on videos that highlight endurance through the passage of time, such as Carlson/Strom’s Sloss, Kerr, Rosenberg, & Moore (2007), tracing the actions of four New York lawyers over the course of a day.
Daphne and Peter Farago Gallery: which will feature highlights from
the acclaimed Daphne Farago Collection, many of which have never been on view at the Museum.
Hope and Mel Barkan Art Wall featuring a selection of neon works that includes Maurizio
Nannucci’s All Art Has Been Contemporary (1999) and Kader Attia’s sculpture Po(l)etical (2009).
Lisbeth Tarlow and Stephen Kay Art Wall will feature works of the MFA’s 2011 Maud Morgan Prize winner, Cambridge artist Wendy Jacob,
Michael D. Wolk Art Wall will showcase recent contemporary acquisitions
So you are seeing some things from the 1960's e.g. Kelley's color painting and some things from the 2001-2011 decade just ending -- I think that fits the definition of Contemporary