MUSE
/ MUSEUM
2006-2024
(ongoing)
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On the surface this series is
"about" artists looking at art and the art world represented
in art magazines; deeper down, however, the work contemplates
the continuum of art and how artists influence each other. Since
2006 the works have combined my own painted imagery with hand-rendered
museum and gallery advertising layouts appropriated from art
magazines such as ARTFORUM, ART IN AMERICA and ART NEWS. As an
artist looking at the magazines every month and visiting galleries
and museums across the country, it's natural, I think, to imagine
my own work on the pages and in the spaces. These paintings take
the visualization process a step or two further, engaging issues
of persona and autonomy at the same time. Advertising, of course,
has the multiple task of conveying nuts and bolts information
while creating a certain look or "cool factor" for
said gallery or museum, and then lending that look to the artist
of the moment. To hand-render that information in these paintings
not only acknowledges graphic design and advertising as arts
in themselves, but raises questions about how that "cool
factor" can actually reinforce or compete with the art depicted.
By taking ads from certain institutions
that have not to date shown my work and layering hand-drawn renditions
over my own images, I signal a certain complicity with the system,
acknowledging that the mechanics of presentation can be as important
as the images themselves. But what happens if the resulting paintings
are "distributed" in a different way, for example in
a book or catalog? Or if the museums or galleries whose ads I've
appropriated then hang these paintings on their wall? In one
regard the paintings would transform from fiction into fact.
In another, it might be like looking into a mirrored room: you
lose track of what's original and what's reproduction. Whatever
the case, there is a certain power-taking that accompanies these
appropriations, one that posits the artist not only as director
but as producer as well.
While the related 1998 series
NAME MATTERS presented
my own name among lists of blue-chip artists' names in gallery
ads, in MUSE/ MUSEUM the act of layering other artists' names
(eg. Warhol, Sherman, Serra) over my own images functions very
differently. The combinations acknowledge the continuum of art
as well as the influence artists have exerted over each other
across centuries. For years I've carried these other artists'
bodies of work around in my head. These paintings, in a sense,
return the favor.
In 2011 I began to focus some
of the work on specific paintings by other artists, in particular
works found in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago,
whose galleries I wandered growing up in the city. As of this
writing, my "collection" includes Grant Wood's AMERICAN GOTHIC, Reginald
Marsh's TATTOO AND HAIRCUT,
Toulouse Lautrec's AT
THE MOULIN ROUGE, Jules Breton's SONG
OF THE LARK, William Bouguereau's THE
BATHERS, and Ivan Albright's INTO
THE WORLD THERE CAME A SOUL CALLED IDA, all employing the
curatorial information to be found on the museum's wall tags.
Included in this mix is the Art Institute's guidebook, THE
ESSENTIAL GUIDE, as well.
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IMAGES BASED ON THE ART INSTITUTE'S
COLLECTION APPEAR IN GREEN BOXES LIKE THIS
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Since 2009 I have been occasionally
drawing my own images onto actual magazine pages themselves,
and in 2013 began to explore the ideas through photography. Now
in 2014 I have begun to position my own photographs next to images
from my own collection of photography books.
Within the conceptual framework
I've laid out here, one could maintain that almost any of my
own images would work combined with the advertising, and so why
these particular images of men and not cats, cars or Cheerios?
Most easily put, it's these men who are my muse. But beyond that,
having grown up in a society whose media and museums have long
privileged the nude (or nearly nude) female almost unthinkingly
(just ask the Guerrilla Girls), whether it's work by Matisse,
Picasso, Wesselmann, Koons or (fill in the blank), I am interested
in asserting or inserting this particular muse as counterpoint.
As I've stated about my photo series STUDIO
MEN, my goal in this work has been to reach beyond whatever
stereotypes we might be tempted to assign men so emblematic of
today's obsession with youth and beauty (do we think of aloofness,
privilege, a certain power structure?) I get to engage these
"usual suspects" on a variety of levels, taking them
off certain pedestals of perfection and, through portraiture
and metaphor, put them back transformed. Their collaboration
makes them complicit thus in our viewing of them, but their subsequent
vulnerability empowers us at the same time. Can their ultimate
defense be their humanity? Muse indeed.
click on images
for enlargements
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Jack Balas, 2024; EVENING
WIND
(after Edward Hopper)
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#2271 EDWARD HOPPER:
HOUSE BY THE RAILROAD
India ink & gouache on paper, 30x23 inches
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LA LUCHA (THE FIGHT)
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Jack Balas, 2023
WAYNE THIEBAUD DRAFTSMAN
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches
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REGINALD MARSH IS DRAWING
ME (#2412)
Click on image for text
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1902 The Met (MUSE-MUSEUM
series)X
and COMPANY
series
India ink on paper, 30x22
inches
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Jack Balas, 2024; PERFECT
FELIX (#2597)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 24x18 inches
Fom the Muse/ Museum
Series
For Felix Gonzalez-Torres
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CHRIS BURDEN:WHAT MY
DAD GAVE ME
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ROY LICHTENSTEIN
Private Collection
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X
XX
MICKALENE THOMAS: A NEW
LEAF
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XXX
THE ARTISTS'
ARTISTS
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zzz 
Jack Balas, 2023; SCHAULAGER (#2522)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches |
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X
THE VISIBLE
VAGINA
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X
JB at GIANNI PIACENTINO
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KERRY
JAMES MARSHALL
BLACK ROMANTIC
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JB at CARL ANDRE
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CUNT
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GEORGE
SEGAL WOMEN 1
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GEORGE
SEGAL WOMEN 2
GORGEOUS MEN
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ALICE
NEEL
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ON THE
GROUND
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BRUCE
NAUMAN: SIXPACT
Private Collection
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ALEX
KATZ: BLACK & WHITE
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ROBERT
ADAMS
SUMMER NIGHTS, WALKING
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X
JB at RICHARD TUTTLE
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EDITOR'S LETT_R
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x
x
GETTY, GET READY
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THE FARMHAND, OR, GRANT
WOOD'S
RE-ENTRY INTO IOWA, TRIUMPHANT
Private Collection
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ED RUSCHA: GUYS
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ANDY
WARHOL SOUP CANS
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BERNAR
VENET
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TRAVELS TO THE MOON,
ALICE, TO THE MOON
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LYNDA
BENGLIS FOREVER
Private
Collection
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ANTINOUS ET HADRIAN,
EMPEROR
Private Collection
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AT JOAN BROWN'S: THE
NIGHT BEFORE
THE ALCATRAZ SWIMX
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EXHIBITION REVIEWSx
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OPEN STUDIO
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GEORGIA O'KEEFFE, SKY
ABOVE CLOUDS, STUDY 1
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THE WACK CATALOG (FEMINISM
UNCOVERED)
Private Collection
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JOSEPH
BEUYS:
THE ULTIMATE IN CHANDELIERS
Private Collection
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JEFF
KOONS
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ARMORY
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LE PETIT PALAIS
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HENRI MATISSE-- BATHERS BY A RIVER
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WILLIAM KENTRIDGE
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KEITH HARING:
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
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x x
VENICE
BIENNALE
UNITED STATES PAVILION
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THE FOURTH PLINTH
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NAME MATTERS (SONNABEND) |
CAPTAIN'S
OFFICE
(For H.C.Westermann)
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JACK SHAINMAN -- THE
SCHOOL
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WILLIAM EGGLESTON
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JACKSON POLLOCK
Permanent
Collection of the Brooklyn Museum,
New York, NY
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PAUL
DELVAUX
THE LAMPS
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ALWAYS MODERN
Permanent
Collection
Leslie Lohman Museum of Art
New York, NY
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REGINALD MARSH
TATTOO AND HAIRCUT
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LESLIE KRIMS
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WALKER EVANS 2
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KARL BODMER
CROSSING THE MISSOURI
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BILL OWENS
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WALKER EVANS 1
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MONET'S WATER LILIES
AN ARTIST'S OBSESSION
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JOEL MEYEROWITZ
CAPE LIGHT (DOWN THE ROAD)
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KISSING
THE MOON (for Winslow Homer)
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GEORGES
SEURAT
LA GRANDE JATTE
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ANSEL ADAMS
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GERHARD RICHTER:
KLEINER AKT (SMALL NUDE)
Private Collection
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NORMAN ROCKWELL
KNOCKOUT
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TOM WESSELMANN
HIS GIRL FRIDAY
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THIS TINY O'KEEFFE
Private Collection
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REFLECTIONS IN BLACK
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JEFF WALL 1
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ST. JOHN BAPTIST, WILDERNESS
BE THERE
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PREDELLA SERIES: LOUVRE--WOULD
LIKE
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PREDELLA SERIES: PANTHEON,
JEREMY
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GRANT WOOD: AMERICAN
GOTHIC
Private Collection
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CROSSING THE DELAWARE
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PHAIDON
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WILLIAM BOUGUEREAU
THE BATHERS
Private Collection
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NAME MATTERS (MATTHEW
MARKS)
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TOULOUSE LAUTREC
AT THE MOULIN ROUGE
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Intervention: Jack Balas
@ BruceNauman
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Intervention: Jack Balas
@ Helga De Alvear
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Intervention: Jack Balas
@ Janis Kounellis
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NAME MATTERS (BASELITZ)
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RAYMOND PETTIBON:
ON MY HONOR
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JEFF WALL 2
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MICHELANGELO
SCOTT ON THE BEACH, OSTIA
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LOUISE BOURGEOIS
WORKS ON PAPER
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Intervention:
Jack Balas @ Art in America Cover
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Intervention: Jack Balas
@ Jack Pierson
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Intervention: Jack Balas
@ Art Basel Miami Beach
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KARA WALKER
EASTER SUNDAY
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ELLSWORTH KELLY
Private Collection
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JULIAN SCHNABEL
CHRIST'S LAST DAY
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PHILIP GUSTON DRAWINGS
Private Collection
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MY FELIX
(FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES)X
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IVAN ALBRIGHT -- INTO
THE WORLD
THERE CAME A SOUL CALLED IDA
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ANSELM KIEFER:
NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEMX
Private Collection
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THE GOOD, THE BAD &
THE VERY B.
( JERRY SALTZ )
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Intervention: Jack Balas
@ Fred Sandback
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SUSAN SONTAG
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x
13 CRITICS
Private Collection
xxx
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JULES BRETON
THE SONG OF THE LARK
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WHO WAS GRANT WOOD?
Permanent
Collection
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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NAYLAND BLAKE
EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN
(RED)
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NAYLAND BLAKE
EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN
(BLUE)
Private Collection
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JOAN MITCHELL
CATALOGUE RAISONNE
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OLD SCHOOL
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EDWARD HOPPER: NIGHTHAWKS
Private Collection
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X
ED RUSCHA (B)USTED (GL)ASS
Private Collection
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THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE
(ART INSTITVTE OF CHICAGO)
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VAN GOGH'S BEDROOM
Private
Collection
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ALEX KATZ
FACE THE MUSIC
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CINDY SHERMAN
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BRICE MARDEN RETROSPECTIVE
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I LOVE MY SCENE
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DAVID SMITH -- ALEXANDER
CALDER
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BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
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TRACEY EMIN 20 YEARS
Private Collection
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LUC TUYMANS REGIME CHANGE
Private Collection
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D.A.P.
Private Collection
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THE METROPOLITAN
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WARHOL'S WORLD
Private Collection
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DONALD JUDD -- SINGLE STACKS
Private Collection |
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BARBARA KRUGER
Collection
Usminas Cultural Institute (Usicultura)
Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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THE GREAT PERSUADER
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ROBERT RYMAN
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ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
IN THE
WILDERNESS (VELASQUEZ)
Private Collection
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INSTITUTION OF CRITIQUE
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THE WINOGRAND ARCHIVE
Private Collection
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RICHARD SERRA
ROLLED AND FORGED
Private
Collection
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ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE / LISA LYON
Permanent
Collection of the Brooklyn Museum,
New York, NY
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HAMMER
MUSEUM
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
Private Collection
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L.A.
COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART
40 YEARS OF
Private Collection
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JOHN COPLANS
Private Collection
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PAUSE |
DONALD JUDD
Private Collection
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SHOCK OF THE NEW
Private Collection
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REMBRANDT
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LICHTENSTEIN GIRLS
Private Collection
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CHARLES RAY'S LOG
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THE SCULPTURES OF PICASSO
(TYGER TYGER BURNING BRIGHT)
Private Collection
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BALKAN EROTIC EPIC
Private Collection
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CARNEGIE
INTERNATIONAL
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THE EARLY
NAME MATTERS SERIES
1999
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