Name/Title
Untitled (The Band I)Entry/Object ID
2019.21Description
Two figures with perpendicular strips of silver covering their faces. Strip of silver foil on left side of frame.Artwork Details
Medium
Digital scan, aluminum foilContext
A detail-oriented and labor intensive maker, Sparks often taps into the traditions of women’s labor and craft including sewing and weaving, using glitter and fabrics as signature materials. The two works here are taken from Sparks’ series "We’re treating each other just like strangers", whose title references a song lyric from Brian Eno’s first solo studio album Here Come the Warm Jets (1974). Using found photographs and images of famous rock and pop musicians such as Blondie, The Ramones, and The Talking Heads as well as images from Gerhard Richter’s series of paintings October 18, 1977, Sparks manipulates them by overlapping fabric and glitter in the style of a Russian Supremacist composition. Exploring the iconography of pop, her compositions use graphic and symbolic overlays in order to highlight the formal aspects of these well-known images.
Untitled (The Band I) features the same aluminum foil strips, but this time obscuring the faces of the figures, drawing a formal relation between the two figures while simultaneously challenging the object’s status as portrait or historical documentation.Acquisition
Accession
2019.17-25Source or Donor
Julie Campbell, Shane CampbellAcquisition Method
GiftCredit Line
Gift of Julie and Shane CampbellInscription/Signature/Marks
Type
SignatureTranscription
Meredyth SparksType
InscriptionTranscription
Untitled (Band I)Type
InscriptionTranscription
2004Lexicon
LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Rock & roll bandsDimensions
Height
9-1/8 inWidth
7-7/8 in