Tag Archives: 2005

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Headless Man Trying to Drink By Yinka Shonibare

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headless man trying drink by yinka shonibare photo by gail worley
Photos By Gail

Yinka Shonibare’s surreal and visually unforgettable sculpture Headless Man Trying to Drink (2005) brings together biting social commentary, clever visual humor, and a rich exploration of post-colonial identity — all in one absurdly tragicomic gesture.

Crafted from fiberglass and wood, with clothing made from the artist’s signature Dutch wax-printed cotton, the life-sized headless figure leans forward, mouthlessly attempting to drink from a stylized water pump and fountain made of polymer-gypsum. Of course, without a head, this feat is impossible — which is exactly the point.
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Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Because Every Hair is Different By Marlene Haring

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because every hair is different photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

In Because Every Hair is Different (2005), Marlene Haring explores hair as a physical marker of femininity and desirability. Embodying the notion that long, fine blonde hair is the quintessence of Eurocentric (or white supremacist) feminine beauty standards to its extreme, Haring transforms herself into a surrealistic figure covered in flowing extensions. The abundant hair not only obscures the sitter, but also alludes to the continual investment of time and money to haircare and appearance  demanded by popular beauty standards.

Photographed in The Brooklyn Museum

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Charles Ray, Tractor

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charles ray tractor photo by gail worley
All Photos By Gail

Charles Ray’s sculptures are often loosely patterned on pre-existing ideas and things. Such is the case with Tractor (2005), which takes as its point of departure a boyhood memory and, more directly, an abandoned vintage tractor found in the San Fernando Valley, California.

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Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Damien Hirst, Virgin (Exposed)

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damien hirst virgin exposed photo by gail worley
All Photos By Gail

Damien Hirst’s 2005 work, Virgin (Exposed) reimagines Edgar Degas’s The Little Fourteen Year-Old Dancer as a pregnant specimen, while its title references the Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception.

damien hirst virgin exposed photo by gail worley

Its garish colors recall the anatomical models and illustrations found in physicians’ offices. Partially flayed and cross-sectioned, the work also evokes historical anatomical female figures whose abdomens could be opened, often to prurient effect, to reveal reproductive organs. However, here there is no frisson of revelation and concealment, and instead the female interior is unsparingly exposed in the public space of a gallery.

damien hirst virgin exposed photo by gail worley

Photographed in The Met Breuer (Now Closed) as Part of the 2018 Exhibit, Like Life: Sculpture, Color and The Body.

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Triathlon (Scenario) By Robert Rauschenberg

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Triathlon (Scenario)
Photo By Gail

After suffering a stroke in 2002 that left his right arm partially paralyzed, Robert Rauschenberg (1925 – 2008) was no longer able to take photographs, nor was he able to transfer and arrange them into new compositions, as he had been doing since the early 1950s. As Triathlon (Scenario)  (2005) shows, these obstacles did not prevent him from making art. Relying on the sorts of collaborative processes that had fueled his work for decades, Rauschenberg invited his friends to take photographs with digital cameras that he provided. He then selected from the images they produced and instructed one of his studio assistants at the time, Kevin Pottorf , in the transfer and arrangements of these images onto two panels

Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.