Untitled #1176 (Elisabeth-Elizabeth)

Artist Petah Coyne (American, b. 1953)

Date2007-2010

DimensionsH: 70 1/2 in. (179.1 cm); W: 62 1/2 in. (158.7 cm); Depth: 78 3/4 in. (200 cm.).
Weight: 137 1/2 lbs (dealer)

MediumTaxidermy birds, chandelier, candles, silk flowers, chandelier wax, black spray paint, pearl-headed hat pins, black wire, quick-link shackles, cable, cable nuts, chain, silk/rayon, velvet, felt, thread, Velcro

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Rita Barbour Kern

Object number

2012.102

Not on View

DescriptionA bulbous chandelier shape hangs from the ceiling, slung close to the ground, its suspending cable wrapped in black velvet. The chandelier shape itself is a bulbous, two-tiered bush made of tightly packed, black-wax dipped blue and purple silk flowers. A number of brightly colored (yellow, green, red, white, black, brown) taxidermied birds are perched around this “bush,” partially buried as if feeding from it. A number of wax-dipped silk flowers dot the ground beneath the chandelier. The list of materials for this sculpture names 16 different elements, from taxidermied birds and silk flowers to various features of physical construction like pearl-headed hat pins and cable nuts and thread and Velcro. A bulbous chandelier shape hangs from the ceiling, slung close to the ground, its suspending cable wrapped in black velvet. The chandelier shape itself is a bulbous, two-tiered bush made of tightly packed, black-wax dipped blue and purple silk flowers. A number of brightly colored (yellow, green, red, white, black, brown) taxidermied birds are perched around this “bush,” partially buried as if feeding from it. A number of wax-dipped silk flowers dot the ground beneath the chandelier. Coyne’s gallerist, Mary Sabbatino, has pointed out that “the color is particularly rich in this sculpture” compared to others.

Label TextWhatever is most precious is buried. It’s a means of protection, of covering up. It’s very Victorian, very genteel—you never expose what is most private. Petah Coyne’s work is often called baroque in its sensibility, but it is equally Victorian—both ornate and somber. In many cases, including this sculpture, her works evoke the colors and imagery of mourning regalia. The violet silk flowers dipped in black wax are studded with brightly hued taxidermy Golden and Lady Amherst pheasants. Dusky candles emerge at various points, drawing a direct connection between this suspended sculpture and the covered chandelier at its core. Sculpture is traditionally floor-bound, but Coyne creates a charged line from ceiling to floor, the sculpture hanging low and dripping some of its silk flowers to the ground. For Coyne, this work references her parents’ long marriage and speaks to the intimate ups and downs of any long-term relationship. “The birds are intertwined but in motion, as one being. It’s about intense companionship through love, loss, triumph, and tragedy.”Published ReferencesPetah Coyne: Everything That Rises Must Converge, with essays by Denise Markonish and A.M. Homes and interview between Petah Coyne and Rebecca Solnit, North Adams, MA/New Haven, CT: MASS MoCA and Yale University Press, 2010, repr. (col.) p. 62-65.Exhibition HistoryNorth Adams, MAMASS MoCA, Petah Coyne: Everything That Rises Must Converge, 2010.Comparative ReferencesSee also Boettger, Suzaan, “Petah Coyne: Not Afraid of the Dark,” Art in America, Sept. 2010, pp. 122–26.

Cf. Petah Coyne: Above and Beneath the Skin, exhibition catalogue, Buffalo: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 2005, with essays by Douglas Dreishpoon, Nancy Princenthal, and Eleanor Heartney.

Cf. Petah Coyne: Vermilion Fog, exhibition catalogue, New York: Galerie Lelong and Charta, 2008, with essays by Ann Wilson Lloyd and Leslie Scalapino (this catalogue shows the sculptures inspired by Dante’s Inferno and coloristically/formally related to the piece described in this form).