Static Variations: Blue x 2
Artist
Terri Priest
(American, 1928–2014)
Date1971–1972
Mediumacrylic on canvas
Dimensions182.9 × 183.7 × 4.4 cm (72 × 72 5/16 × 1 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineHelen Sagoff Slosberg Fund
Object number2014.1192
DescriptionSee E.20.14.2-.5 for orientation variationsLabel TextThrough its exploration of optical stimuli, Static Variations: Blue x 2 appears to have much in common with Op Art, yet Priest refused her contemporaries’ rejection of content for form. Instead, she saw her artwork as deeply connected to larger social issues. Priest was active in the Civil Rights Movement, and her paintings of the 1970s emerged directly from her activism: “My works are politically motivated—that’s not an overstatement,” she later explained. “For every white line there was a black line. One plus one is equal to more than two.” The changing optical effects of this work were intended to model the flux of society, transforming Op Art’s experimentation with vision and cognition into social commentary. The “variations” portion of the artwork’s title refers to both the optical vibrations created by the “static” hard-edged shapes, as well as the five different configurations in which this two-piece painting can be installed.ProvenanceTerri Priest (see notes in curatorial file, 9/25/2014)
On View
Not on view
