Gold World Figure

Date1998

MediumPhotogravure on ganpi paper with attached thread, printed in color

Credit LineGift of Sara and John Shlesinger

Dimensions17 11/16 x 16 9/16 in. (44.9 x 42 cm)

Object number2003.070.020

Label TextDill is a sculptor known for her use of fragile and ephemeral materials such as paper, cloth, and thread. She inscribes these media with words, most often, as here, the verses of her favorite poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Dill's primary theme is the human body. For this print she has photographed a friend on whose torso are painted the words of one of Dickinson's poems:

We like a Hairbreadth `scape
It tingles in the Mind
Far after Act or Accident
Like paragraphs of Wind

If we had ventured less
The Breeze were not so fine
That reaches to our utmost Hair
Its Tentacles divine.

The photograph has been enlarged and printed with gold pigment on an exotic paper of Japanese manufacture, and a dark gray thread has been hand sewn through the paper. The gossamer textures of the paper and thread invite a tactile as well as a visual response. The body clothed in the poem both reveals and conceals the words, and, thus, Dill demands an engagement from the viewer to attempt to decipher it.

Exhibition HistoryPrinted Matter: Contemporary Works from GraphicStudio, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 11 - May 12, 2006
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, March - May 2004.
MCCM Newsletter, December 2005 - February 2006.

ProvenanceEx coll. Sara and John Shlesinger, United States, purchased from Graphicstudio/Institute for Reserach in Art, Tampa, Florida.

Status

Not on view

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