This dollhouse is a replica of the 1872 Victorian town house in the East End of London where artist Yinka Shonibare now lives. Born in London, Shonibare spent most of his youth in Lagos, and his dual African and English cultural identity plays a large role in his work, which often takes the form of headless figures wearing the elaborate clothing of upper-class Victorians.

Posts by Rob Anderson
Tempest of a Teacup
For this project, New York–based artist Robert Lazzarini‘s first experiment in “complex nonlinear distortion,” the artist composited attributes of different cups and saucers to arrive at an archetypal object. He first drew the cup and saucer using three-dimensional modeling software, and then he laser-scanned a well-proportioned spoon and fed the scan directly into his computer. He next applied multiple sine wave patterns along different axes through these virtual objects. You got all that?
You Only Get Three Wishes
Lorna Simpson is best known for her photography, which often combines images of black women with text as a way to explore society’s relationship with race, sex, and ethnicity. Frequently elusive, her works involve the viewer in the creation of their meaning while also confronting the viewer with the underlying racism still found in American culture.
Love, Your Biggest Fan
For Ambiguous Beauty, Japanese photographer and appropriation artist Yasumasa Morimura photographed himself as Marilyn Monroe in her first Playboy pin-up, complete with wig and fake breasts. The reverse side of the fan shows the Japanese character for “love,” and the fan is packaged in a box made from Paulownia, a type of wood historically used by the Japanese for the presentation of formal fans.
Baby It’s Cold Outside
For this piece, New York City–based artist Jim Hodges wanted to create an imaginary landscape in the form of a blanket meant to resemble a body of water. The blanket “reflects” a poem-fragment written by Hodges, which reads, “If there had been a pool it would have reflected us.” The blanket measures 52 x 72 inches, the exact dimensions of the artist’s own bed, and comes in a half-silvered sleeve.
Star Struck
Conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner’s enamel pin printed with the phrase “Stars don’t stand still in the sky for anybody” draws on a recurring theme in his work: language and typography. His exploration of words and phrases extends across the wide variety of mediums in which Weiner works, including film, video, book art, sculpture, performance art, installation art, music composition, and graphic design.
Making Myths from the Mundane
Each year since 1988, art collector, software entrepreneur, and MoMA trustee Peter Norton has commissioned an art edition to celebrate the holiday season. Created by well-known contemporary artists represented in the Norton family’s own collection, and sent as gifts to personal friends and members of the art community, these highly collectible art objects are interactive and playful. With the holiday season nearly upon us, we thought it would be fun to share some items in the collection with a weeklong series of blog posts.
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