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Untitled (Medusa Marinara)

Vik Muniz; Bernardaud Manufacture de Porcelaine

Artwork Details

Untitled (Medusa Marinara)
1999
Vik Muniz; Bernardaud Manufacture de Porcelaine
photograph on glazed porcelain
12 ½ in x 12 ½ in x 1 ¼ in (31.75 cm x 31.75 cm x 3.18 cm);12 ½ in x 12 ½ in x 1 ¼ in (31.75 cm x 31.75 cm x 3.18 cm)
Gift of the Peter Norton Family Foundation
1999/1.108

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Description

Subject Matter:

In this work, Vik Muniz humorously appropriates the head of Medusa from Caravaggio’s c. 1597 painting of the snake-haired Gorgon from Greek mythology. Muniz often recreates a well-known image from art history in an untraditional medium, such as sugar, thread, chocolate syrup, or, as in this work, pasta and marinara sauce, and then photographs the final creation. For this creation, Muniz then transposed the photograph on to a ceramic plate. The swriling pasta noodles cleverly describe Medusa's head of snakes and the blood from Caravaggio's painting is rendered in marinara sauce.

Physical Description:

A photograph of a female head made of pasta and marinara sauce printed on a porcelain plate. On verso, the plate is numbered "39;" it is labeled part of "The Peter Norton Family Christmas Project" and dated 1999; the manufacturer is labeled "Made in Bernardaud in Limoges, France;" and, below, it reads "Lead Free Dishwasher Safe."

Usage Rights:

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