BLA
Tony Oursler, American, born 1957
2004
Acrylic and collage on paper
Overall: 28 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (72.4 × 57.2 cm)
Frame: 31 11/16 × 25 3/4 in. (80.5 × 65.4 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Hugh J. Freund, Class of 1967
2009.76.1
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Mixed Media
Research Area
Mixed Media
Not on view
Label
Tony Oursler challenges the viewer to consider modes of human behavior and interaction. In an interview from 2011, he said: "I love the idea that you could somehow technically describe human behavior—there is an absurdity to that, but at the same time something fresh about the desire to understand ourselves." Using an array of materials, Oursler assembles works that often take the form of fragmented human faces. In BLA, Oursler combines roughly cut photograph roundels and saturated acrylic paint. Piercing blue eyes look off in different directions, and lips fall open to reveal crooked teeth. The disconnected elements of the composition prompt the viewer to consider what is signified not only by the exclusion of the remainder of the body. To what extend does this work represent a human form? From the 2020 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 98, Vision 2020: What Do You See?, curated by Devon Mifflin '21, Levinson Intern for Campus Engagement
Course History
SART 17, Collage, Esme Thompson, Fall 2012
SART 17, Collage: Bridging the Gap, Esme Thompson, Fall 2013
Exhibition History
Vision 2020: What Do You See?, A Space for Dialogue 98, Devon D. Mifflin, Levinson Intern, Class of 2021, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 11-March 1, 2020.
Publication History
Devon D. Mifflin, A Space for Dialogue 98, Vision 2020, What Do You See?, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2020.
Provenance
Hugh J. Freund, Bedford, New York; given to present collection, 2009.
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