Vertically Greased Cone

by Royden Rabinowitch

Artist Royden Rabinowitch (Kanada, född 1943)

Alternate Title

Vertikalt smord kon

Date1965

MediumSteel and grease

Dimensions90 cm, 180 cm i diameter

ClassificationSculptures

Credit LineDonation 2018 from Séan and Elizabeth Ryerson

Countries

Canada

Object NumberMOM/2018/40

The artwork is not on display

About the artworkThis cone smeared with industrial grease that almost hides the steel underneath belongs to a series of sculptures Royden Rabinowitch called “Greased Cones”. The cone’s industrial character is made more organic by the vertical brush strokes. In the 1960s, many artists were exploring terse, minimalist forms, and claiming that a work of art was meaningful in itself. Unlike them, Rabinowitch in this series emphasises certain physical and historical links between man and object – such as the hand that has applied the grease, or the reference to key modernist sculptors that can be found in all five cones in the series. “Vertically Greased Cone” is an homage to the work Portrait of James Joyce (1928) by Constantin Brancusi, which is also in the Moderna Museet collection.
Signatures, inscriptions and marks Osignerad Selected exhibition history Samlingsutställning 2019-2022 (den 1 februari 2019 - den 27 augusti 2023) Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Works by the artist