Robert Gober Prison Window 1992

  • Not on view

High on the wall and decidedly out of reach, a barred window reveals an illusory glimpse of radiant blue sky. Gober transforms the gallery into a prison cell, taunting viewers with the semblance of a landscape beyond and provoking a desire to escape. At once familiar and uncanny, Gober's work is based on memory: "Most of my sculptures have been memories remade, recombined, and filtered through my current experiences." This sculptural installation also alludes to the Renaissance conception of a painting as a window, once the premise of representational picture-making.

Gallery label from Out of Time: A Contemporary View, August 30, 2006–April 9, 2007.
Medium
Plywood, forged iron, plaster, latex paint, and electric light bulbs
Dimensions
Opening 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm)
Credit
Gift of the Dannheisser Foundation
Object number
175.1996
Copyright
© 2023 Robert Gober
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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