2739976

Artist Jonathan Borofsky American, born 1942

Date1982

Dimensionsimage (top image): 3 x 2 1/2 in. (7.6 x 6.4 cm)
image1 (bottom image): 2 3/8 x 2 13/16 in. (6 x 7.1 cm)
sheet: 30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm)

Mediumscreenprint

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineGiven in honor of Roberta Waddell by an anonymous donor

Object number

1984.64H

Not on View

Published References"Prints and Photographs Published," THE PRINT COLLECTORS NEWSLETTER, Vol. XIII, No. 1 (March - April 1982), P. 21.Label TextA frequent character in Jonathan Borofsky’s exploration of public and private life, the silhouetted figure with a briefcase in 2740475 represents the working man’s public self. Borofsky develops this anonymous man across various media, creating a complex metaphor that can be read as the average corporate businessman traveling to and from the office or as the artist transporting his work in a briefcase. Building a cinematic rhythm across the series, Borofsky begins with a solitary figure that multiplies in each subsequent image until he is finally alone again, printed upside down at the series’ end. With 2740475, Borofsky’s first published portfolio of prints, the artist began a long engagement with printmaking as a means to expand upon the ideas and imagery contained in his sculpture and drawing. Often deliberately using a specific print technique to enhance the symbolic meaning of his characters, here he chose screenprinting, with its flat, stencil-like areas of color, to best represent the anonymity and impersonality of his working man.