Camo-Outgrowth (Winter)
Thomas Hirschhorn, Swiss, born 1957
2005Medium:
Wood, cardboard, brown adhesive tape, 119 globes, printed matterDimensions:
11 feet 5 inches × 20 feet × 12 inches (348 × 609.6 × 30.5 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, ParisCuratorial Department:
Contemporary ArtObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:2005-150-1Credit Line:
Purchased with funds contributed by the members of the Committee on Modern and Contemporary Art, 2005
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camo [x] camouflage [x] conflict [x] contemporary [x] death [x] destruction [x] globe [x] installation [x] war [x]In Camo-Outgrowth (Winter), Thomas Hirschhorn uses the artistic strategies and precarious materials—in this case, masking tape and images of camouflage costumes from magazines and newspapers—that have come to represent his work. This piece is a meditation on conflict and our inexplicable fascination with it. The distorted sequence of the modified globes responds to the repetitive impulse of Minimal art and to the oppressive omnipresence of war in the twentieth century, arguably one of the bloodiest ever. The pervasiveness of camouflage—from fashion to war—attests to the troubled relationship with violence that seems to characterize modern times.
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Philadelphia Museum of Art Handbook (2014 Edition)Emblematic of his inventive sculptural works often made from precarious materials, such as the masking tape and magazine and newspaper clippings seen here, Thomas Hirschhorn’s Camo-Outgrowth (Winter) responds to contemporary culture’s inexplicable fascination with armed conflict. The sequence of globes distorted by tumor-like masses juxtaposed with images of camouflage clothing and motifs stylistically references the repetitive impulse of Minimal art, while at the same time suggesting the seemingly oppressive omnipresence of war. For Hirschhorn the pervasiveness of camouflage, including its effortless migration from combat to fashion, attests to modern society’s troubled relationship with violence. Adelina Vlas, from Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014, p. 417.
