Linen on Polyvinyl Chloride
<p>Here, Jimmie Durham combines traditional materials (like linen) and supposedly “authentic” ones (like animal hide) with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), an industrial material used to make, among other things, water and sewer lines; this piece of pipe carries the brand name Apache. The sculpture looks almost utilitarian, yet any functionality remains mysterious—the open ends of the PVC pipe hinting at the capacity for or evacuation of content. This work thus simulates the ambiguity, indeed absurdity, of an ethnographic object extracted from its original context and isolated for display.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1993
- Dimensions
- 96.5 × 165.1 × 33 cm (38 × 65 × 13 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Jimmie Durham
Artist
Installation
Jimmie Bob Durham was an American sculptor, essayist and poet. He was active in the United States in the civil rights movements of African Americans and Native Americans in the 1960s and 1970s, serving on the central council of the American Indian Movement (AIM). He returned to working at art while living in New York City. His work has been extensively exhibited. Durham also received the Günther-Peill-Preis (2003), the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Robert Rauschenberg Award (2017), and the 58th Venice Biennale's Golden Lion for lifetime achievement (2019).
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More by Jimmie Durham
YOU ARE HERE*
2020 · Phone booth and digital prints
Look Ahead (for Parkett no. 92)
2013 · Screenprint
Parkett no. 92
2013 · Journal
Our House
2007 · Drypoint on copperplate on paper
Dans plusieurs de ces forêts et de ces bois, il n’y avait pas seulement des villages souterrains groupés autours du terrier du chef mais il y avait encore de véritables hameaux de huttes basses cachés sous les arbres, et si nombreaux que parfois la forêt en était remplie. Souvent les fumées les trahissaient. Deux de...
1993 · Aluminium machinery part, wooden planks, tree branches, castor wheels, Coca-cola bottle, bone, galvanised steel, glass a
My Blood
1991 · Watercolor, crayon, and brush and handprint in brown ink on ivory wove paper, cut and collaged onto ivory wove paper prepared with blood mixed with pink wash, with black fiber-tipped pen and cut and pasted black laser printed label
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Jimmie Durham
- Year
- 1993
- Dimensions
- 96.5 × 165.1 × 33 cm (38 × 65 × 13 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1993-142513
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified