TitleUntitled #697
Artist
Petah Coyne
(American, b. 1953)
Date1991
MediumMixed media (shredded car, black sand)
DimensionsOverall: 77 x 36 x 34 in.
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, August 18, 2021
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY, Gift of Barbara and Ira Sahlman
Object number2021.8
Label TextPetah Coyne is a contemporary sculptor and photographer best known for her large and small-scale hanging sculptures and floor installations. Working in innovative and disparate materials, her media has ranged from the organic to the ephemeral, from incorporating dead fish, mud, sticks, hay, black sand, specially-formulated and patented wax, satin ribbons, silk flowers, to more recently, velvet, taxidermy and cast wax statuary. Unafraid to confront a range of subjects, or tackle contemporary themes, Coyne’s innate dualities are transposed in the dichotomous themes of her work: transformation and constancy; life and loss; beauty and darkness.Throughout her oeuvre Coyne derives her inspiration, as with her media, from diverse sources — from literature and film, world culture and the natural environment, and the artist’s own personal biography.
Untitled #697 is an example of one of Petah’s black sand works that she began working on during the Neo-Expressionist years of the late 1980s. This work in particular is made of shredded cars and then covered with black sand (the residue from pig iron casting). The works that she created in this manner were semi-abstract, and vaguely figurative - sometimes they were playful, at other times dark.
Collections
- New Acquisitions 2021
