Untitled (Compass series)
Not on view
Untitled (Compass series) is one of a pair; the other is a manipulated photocopy. Composed in DeFeo's signature palette of black, white, and gray, the drawing employs a variety of media, and there is evidence of considerable smudging and erasing (which DeFeo utilized extensively in her practice, almost as a technique) creating complex layers of forms and shapes. The drawing compass, a favorite tool, was the inspiration for the main shape. Other objects appear as well, including a cup handle, a shoe tree, and a kneadable eraser. The end result is an abstraction in which the everyday objects have been reshaped into elegant organic forms. After completing the drawing, DeFeo removed it from the spiral-bound sketch pad. She then arranged four different compasses and six irregularly shaped pieces of kneadable eraser on the bed of a photocopy machine, and placed the drawing on top of the objects to make the photocopy. An entirely new work of art is revealed in which the drawing serves as a kind of backdrop for the objects that, although rendered flat, appear oddly sculptural.
Karin Breuer
- Artist
- Jay DeFeo
- Title
- Untitled (Compass series)
- Date
- 1979
- Object Type
- Drawing
- Medium
- Charcoal and oil pastel on paper
- Dimensions
- 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
- Credit Line
- Foundation purchase, Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Major Accessions
- Accession Number
- 2016.6.1