Thomas Demand
Pile (Staple)

Pile (Staple)

© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Pile (Staple)
Pile (Staple)
ArtistGerman, born 1964
CultureGerman
Titles
  • Pile (Staple)
Date2001—02
MediumChromogenic prints
DimensionsImage (A): 17 9/16 × 22 3/4 in. (44.6 × 57.8 cm)
Sheet (A): 19 9/16 × 23 1/2 in. (49.7 × 59.7 cm)
Image (B): 20 3/8 × 18 7/8 in. (51.8 × 47.9 cm)
Sheet (B): 23 5/8 × 19 5/8 in. (60 × 49.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Kerry F. Inman and Denby Auble
Object number2011.625.A,.B
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

The
work of Thomas Demand often refers to consumer culture’s heavy dependence on,
and general distrust of, photographic imagery in today’s information-saturated
world. Galvanized by the outcome of the Florida ballot-counting scandal of the
2000 U.S. presidential election, Demand carefully observed news photographs of
the vote-counting office and items found therein, including a stack of unused
ballots. Using only paper and cardboard, he then constructed an imagined scene
from the counting office.




This pair of photographs, titled Pile (Staple), embodies Demand’s sense
of irony: his art is made of and about paper, and the scandal was also about
the same, thus offering a wry comment on the reliability of news images.


Provenance Research Ongoing Exhibition History"Utopia/ Dystopia: Construction and Destruction in Photography and Collage," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 11 March - 10 June, 2012.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
A - dated and numbered verso lower center in ink: 2001 23/45
B - dated and numbered verso lower center in ink: 2001 23/45
A - signed verso lower center in ink: Thomas Demand
B - signed verso lower center in ink: Thomas Demand

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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