Untitled (addressed to Dadaland)

Artists

Description

A piece of paper was cut from the page of a publication, isolating the word FLASH (white on black with lines radiating around it), and cut into the shape of a flaming, irregularly seven-pointed star standing on a broad base. The front was spray-painted with black, using a large washer or some such perforated disk as a stencil after the sheet was somewhat gray, so that the end effect is of a gray iris with a black pupil centering the black star-like form. This was then folded vertically, eye/star side out, and inserted into an envelope with a glassine window, so that half of the eye/star peers out. This original orientation is only presumed, since the envelope was opened by its recipient, and the object inside must have been removed and reinserted many times.

Dimensions

envelope: 9.2 x 15.7 cm (3 5/8 x 6 3/16 in.) star (greatest dimension): 10.4 x 13.6 cm (4 1/8 x 5 3/8 in.)

Provenance

[Steven Lieber, San Francisco] sold; to Harvard Art Museums, 2004