Here, desire for the other is often imagined in terms of a totem or fetish. Totemic works, such as Millie Wilson's Daytona Death Angel or Marsden Hartley's Cascade of Devotion: Mexico, present a singular and monumental object or image which, in its isolated glory suggests something perfect and unattainable. Fetish-like works, such as Karen Kilimnick's Madonna Before She Got Famous - Madonna at Home or Richard Hawkin's Goethe's Italian Journey, capture the other with just ephemeral suggestions of their presence.
Robert Indiana
The Hartley Elegy: Berlin Series KvF V, 1990
Screenprint
76,1/4x53,3/8"
Courtesy Park Granada Editions
Glenn Ligon
Narratives (Plate G), 1993
Etching with chine colle
28x21"
Courtesy Max Protetch Gallery
Roni Horn
When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes - No.1027, 1993
Plastic and aluminum
2x2xvariable lengths up to 72"
Courtesy of the artist and the Matthew Marks Gallery
Zoe Leonard
Frontal View, Geoffrey Beene Fashion Show, 1990
B&W photograph, A/P
40x30"
Gift of Elaine McKeon
The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers, 1974, Album cover (design by Andy Warhol), Private collection
Romaine Brooks, United States, 1874-1970, Peter (A Young English Girl), 1923-24, Oil on canvas, 36-1/3 x 24-1/2", Lent by the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the artist
Patti Smith, Horses, 1975, Album cover, (photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe)
Pavel Tchelitchew, France, born Moscow, 1898-1957, Le Collier des Roses, 1931, Oil on board, 23-1/4 x 20-7/8", Private collection
Tony Greene, United States, 1955-1990, The Grain of His Skin, 1987, Oil on panel, 13 x 15", Private collection
The Smiths, The Smiths, 1984, Album cover, Private collection
Donald Moffett, United States, born 1955, You, You, You, 1990, Cibatransparency in lightbox, 38 x 84 x 6", Lent by Andrew F. Sie
Karen Kilimnik, United States, born 1962, Madonna Before She Got Famous -- Madonna at Home, 1991, Mixed media, Dimensions variable, Lent by Karen and Andy Stillpass and 303 Gallery
Robert Gober, United States, born 1954, Newspaper, 1992, Photolithography on archival paper, twine, ed. AP, Approx: 6 x 16-1/4 x 13-1/4", Gift of the artist
Marcel Duchamp, France, 1887-1968, The Bride Stripped by Her Bachelors, Even, 1915-1923, Collection Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, Color reproduction in Arturo Schwarz, The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp, Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publishers NY, 2nd Revised Edition 1970, Private collection
Kathy Huberland, Bridal Staircase, 1971, Black and white reproduction in Womanhouse, 1971, exhibition catalogue, Lent by Moira Roth
Connie Samaras, United States, born 1960, Alien Head - First Mass Produced U.S. Image (from a Partial Correction to the Representation of Earth Culture Sent Out to Extraterrestrials on the 1977 U.S. Voyager Interstellar Space Probes, 1994, Photograph, 30 x 30", Courtesy of the artist
David Bowie, Aladdin Sane, 1973, Album cover, Private collection
Richard Hawkins, United States, born 1961, Goethe's Italian Journey, 1990, Mixed media, 9 x 6 x 1-1/4", Courtesy of the artist and Richard Telles Fine Art
Brains, The Journal of Egghead Sexuality, Volume 1, No. 1, Summer 1990, 'Zine, Private collection
Physique Pictorial, No. 40, June 1987, 'Zine, Private collection
Bound & Gagged, Erotic Adventures in Male Bondage, No. 18, September/October 1990, 'Zine, Private collection
Hippie Dick!, No. 5, 1993, 'Zine, Private Collection
Bear, No. 6, 1988, 'Zine, Private Collection
Steve Wolfe, United States, born Italy, 1955, Hollywood Babylon, 1993, Gold-plated bronze and oil paint, 10-1/2 x 7", Lent by Pablo and Leslie Lawner
Paul Pfeiffer, United States, born 1966, Ninos Repulsivos, 1994, Five hand-cast resin statues, plaster, various objects, 12 x 5 x 3" each, Courtesy of the artist, Luis Francia, Martin Manalansan, Rupert Manalili, and John Pfeiffer
Millie Wilson, United States, born 1948, Daytona Death Angel, 1994, Synthetic hair, wood, chrome, 66 x 36 x 24", Courtesy of the artist and Jose Freire Fine Art, Inc. and Ruth Bloom Gallery
Joel Otterson, United States, born 1959, Bowie Knife Bat, about 1984, Mixed media, Approx: 100 x 11 x 11", Lent by Anne Livet