Suddenly open became blue

Art

-

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

Suddenly open became blue

Entry/Object ID

2019.12

Description

Multilayered flowers, lines, text, varying textures on wooden panel

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil, Encaustic, enamel on panel

Context

Known just as well for her championing of other local artists as for her own work, the ‘artist mother of Chicago’ Sabina Ott worked in numerous formats and media to produce playful works promoting feminism, community, and public engagement. A painter, sculptor, and installation artist, Ott’s layered, brightly colored paintings, like Suddenly open became blue, convey much of their narrative qualities through the physical process and application of encaustic and other materials included in the composition. For Ott, the actions of layering and carving away help to tell the story of the work. Marrying feminist theory and everyday objects with a sense of humor, Ott often used Gertrude Stein’s writings as a platform from which to build her own methodologies, techniques, and narratives. The inclusion of flowers in her works, here in thick enamel, intentionally links them to various historical, religious, and literary references. However, according to the artist, “questions of gender identification and construction always arise, alongside sexuality, spirituality, and all the conflicting things the rose has been used as a metaphor for. What I am trying to do is confound these significations through the repetition and fragmenting of the form, to give room for another mode of experience.”

Acquisition

Accession

2019.12

Source or Donor

Aspect/Ratio Gallery

Acquisition Method

Purchase

Credit Line

Courtesy of the artist

Made/Created

Artist

Sabina Ott

Date made

2001

Ethnography

Notes

American Chicago

Lexicon

Getty AAT

Concept

feminism, culture-related concepts, humor, artistic devices, artistic concepts, Chicago windows, windows, openings (architectural elements), architectural elements, components (objects parts), flower gardens, gardens (open spaces), open spaces, form (composition concepts), formal concepts (artistic concept)

Hierarchy Name

Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), Components (hierarchy name), Open Spaces and Site Elements (hierarchy name), Built Environment (hierarchy name)

Facet

Associated Concepts Facet, Objects Facet

Dimensions

Dimension Description

overall; panel

Width

36 in

Depth

1-3/4 in

Length

36 in

Exhibition

Life Cycles