Trophy #1
Year: 1988
Type: Assemblage
Catalog #: SF_0007
Current Location:
Private Collection
Exhibition History:
“The Life and Art of Esphyr Slobodkina,” organized by the Tufts University Art Gallery; Tisch Gallery, Tufts University January 16-March 29, 1992; Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, City University of New York, November 5-December 15, 1992.
“Rediscovering Slobodkina: A Pioneer of American Abstraction,” Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY, Jan 10 – Mar 22, 2009; Samuel P. Harn Art Museum, Gainesville, FL, Jun 16 – Sept 6, 2009; Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL, Oct 1 – Dec 29, 2009; Sheldon Art Museum, Lincoln, NE, Jan 26 – Apr 18, 2010.
Dimensions:
9 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/4
During a summer spent shopping for a new home in which to build a private mini-museum/gallery, Slobodkina eased the stress of that undertaking by working on several projects. Among these was “Trophy #1,” constructed of treasures found by friend Mickey Smith and Esphyr on one of the many “junk shop” excursions they made while Esphyr lived in Florida. Trophy #1 and Trophy #2 could be straight out of David Cronenberg’s film version of Naked Lunch: they are buglike machines with typewriter-key antennae, eyes made of screws, and a lolling red plastic tongue (Cate McQuaid, “Esphyr Slobodkina turns geometry into art,” Boston Phoenix, Feb 7, 1992.).
Signature / Artist Notation:
Recto: Esphyr Slobodkina
Verso: From the series “DESTROY AND SEARCH” / Trophy #1 a GIOSO* by Esphyr Slobodkina 1988 / *Great Ideas of Small Origins