XYZ 0543 (Pixel Cock and Bull)

2011

American, 1936 - 2024

Samaras’s starting point for this work was 1960s photographs taken by Raymond Saroff (American, born 1922) of a New York subway station that depicted Samaras taping photocopies of his own face on subway advertisements. Looking at the pictures in 2008, Samaras began to digitally manipulate the backgrounds and spaces. The resulting image conveys a vertiginous abstract space in which the viewer’s orientation and interpretation of the space is constantly shifting. Although initially connected to an actual event, the space depicted becomes a fantastical abstraction, providing a glimpse into the architecture of computer software and its manipulative possibilities.

Pure pigment on paper mounted on Dibond

35 x 62 x 1 1/4 in. (88.9 x 157.5 x 3.2 cm)

Gift of Jon and Kim Shirley in honor of Kimerly Rorschach

2019.22

Provenance: The artist; [Pace Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by Jon Shirley, Seattle, Washington; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2019

Photo: Mark Woods

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Reverberations: Contemporary Art and Modern Classics, Dec. 22, 2022 - ongoing [on view Dec. 22, 2022 - June 11, 2023].

Published ReferencesSamaras, Lucas. XYZ 2010-2012: Lucas Samaras. Exh. Cat. New York: Pace Gallery, 2012; reproduced, n.p. [not in exhibition].

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM