Kehinde Wiley, The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte (detail), 2014/photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Conceptualism and minimalism have dominated much of contemporary art for decades, yet beginning in the 1970s, many artists began to react against their strict formalism and sparse aesthetic. Enter Less Is a Bore: Maximalist Art & Design at the Institute of Contemporary Art, a new exhibit highlighting a smattering of work from well-known artists—Frank Stella, Jasper Johns and Sol LeWitt among them—alongside creations from international artists worthy of wider attention, all of whom explore patterning, decoration, complexity and excess in visually stunning and often joyful ways.