Handkerchief

Sculpture

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

Handkerchief

Entry/Object ID

2019.03a

Description

smoothed graphite sculpture giving illusion of folded handkerchief on flat surface.

Artwork Details

Medium

Graphite

Context

Odom has been making various handkerchief objects since 2012 through a reductive process that shapes larger material down to hand-held, handkerchief-like shapes. Using various materials and colors, Odom was interested in exploring the way significant meanings (such as sexual identity, orientation, practices) are attached to such small and insignificant pieces of fabric. A clear reference to the “handkerchief code,” Odom’s handkerchief work at the intersection of the universal and the particular, that is, how a commonplace object can be the site of extremely particular, localized meanings. In this way, each viewer brings different associations and meanings to the object, which is itself a kind of blank slate or canvas.The works are in some sense representational, as Odom admits, but also intentionally takes distance from mere representation as copying. Odom is both fabricating objects like everyday objects, but also distorting and reversing one’s expectations and associations with the objects in questions.

Acquisition

Accession

2019.03

Source or Donor

Betsy Odom

Acquisition Method

Purchase

Credit Line

Courtesy of the artist

Made/Created

Artist

Betsy Odom

Date made

2015

Ethnography

Notes

American

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Location

Verso/Center

Transcription

'Odom 15'

Notes

Inscription Type: carved artist's inscription

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Sculpture

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Getty AAT

Concept

sexuality, psychological concepts, social science concepts, male homosexuality, homosexuality, graphite (mineral), mineral, inorganic material, materials (substances), handkerchiefs, costume accessories carried, costume accessories, costume (mode of fashion), lesbianism, identity, metaphysical concepts, philosophical concepts, LGBTQ+, sexual orientation, sociological concepts

Hierarchy Name

Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), Materials (hierarchy name), Costume (hierarchy name), Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name)

Facet

Associated Concepts Facet, Materials Facet, Objects Facet

Dimensions

Dimension Description

overall

Width

2-3/4 in

Depth

3/8 in

Length

4-1/4 in