XYZ 0543 (Pixel Cock and Bull)

Date2011

Maker Lucas Samaras American, 1936 - 2024

Label TextSamaras’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.

Object number2019.22

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

Photo CreditPhoto: Mark Woods

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].

Credit LineGift of Jon and Kim Shirley in honor of Kimerly Rorschach

Dimensions35 x 62 x 1 1/4 in. (88.9 x 157.5 x 3.2 cm)

MediumPure pigment on paper mounted on Dibond