2740475, a portfolio of 6 etching and 7 screenprints

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2740475, a portfolio of 6 etching and 7 screenprints

Artist Jonathan Borofsky (American, born 1942)

Date1982

MediumScreenprint

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineGiven in honor of Roberta Waddell by an anonymous donor

Object number

1984.64A-N

Not on View

Label TextJonathan Borofsky’s work is often based on self-portrait/dream imagery, flow of conscious doodling, and numbers. Numbers are inscribed or painted on his works like an inventory tag, and at times become the sole subject/manifestation of his creativity. In 1968, Borofsky began a “daily obsession of three hours of writing numbers in succession linearly on paper every day and picking up where I left off the next…” As he wrote the numbers, ideas for artworks would impose and he would, almost subconsciously, include sketches or narratives along with the numbers. The combination of his very conscious counting and his subconscious dreaming was a way for Borofsky to combine feelings with observation, or perhaps, the present with memories. “For me,” he explained, “numbers are like God. They connect us all together in a way nothing else does. Like magic.” In this portfolio, the startling contrast, created by pitting small, precise etchings against bold screen prints, demonstrates the artist’s desire to stress a certain parity of techniques. The basic motif that runs through all of the screen prints is a figure, the silhouette of a man with a briefcase and hat. Borofsky says that the “Man with a Briefcase” also portrays himself, and that the briefcase contains the artist’s ideas. “I think everything in art is a self-portrait.”