This Head Is Mine

Date1981

Label TextArneson's self-portraits mix irreverence, informality, and humor. From a distance this head looks suspiciously like a straightforward echo of a classical bronze, complete with empty eye sockets. Close inspection reveals that Arneson has "defaced" it with such punning phrases as: "It Is eye; I am it; it is me; find this mind of mine." The wordplay continues on the pedestal, which is decorated with a daunting alphabetical list of "self" adjective, beginning with "self-abased." "Me & My Self" is impressed word by word on the four sides of the base.

Object number84.222

ProvenanceManuel Neri; by gift to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1984

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Recent Modern Acquisitions, August 27 - October 18, 1987. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Collection Highlights: 1945 To The Present, September 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, June 21 - September 2, 2024.Published Referenceshttp://www.verisimilitudo.com/arneson/artworks.htm Seattle Art Museum. “Acquisitions.” Seattle Art Museum Calendar (May 1985): p. 3.

Credit LineGift of Manuel Neri

Dimensions24 x 19 x 20 in. (60.96 x 48.26 x 50.8 cm)

MediumBronze