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Untitled #816 (Dr. Zhivago)

Petah Coyne

Contemporary Art

Petah Coyne’s fantastical forms, presenting a beauty that slides into the grotesque, allude to death and decay. Her large, arresting sculptures are neither abstraction nor figuration, but exist somewhere be- tween the two. Using a wide range of nontraditional materials including hay, wire, black sand, specially formulated wax, silk flowers, ribbons, artificial birds, earth, hair, and trees, Coyne often veils or covers objects as though they were artifacts frozen in time. Often hanging from the ceiling, her sculptures
project a sense of unease and fragility. Although the materials appear delicate, one senses the weight and density of the works—the gossamer-like Untitled 816 (Dr. Zhivago), for example, weighs three hundred pounds.

Coyne is part of a generation of feminist sculptors who came of age in the late 1980s after Minimalism. Like many of her contemopraries such as Ursula von Rydingsvard, she seeks to integrate themes of nature and the self in her works.
MEDIUM Formulated wax, steel, antique birdhouse, wire cable, ribbon, silk flowers, candles
DATES 1995-1996
DIMENSIONS 75 1/2 x 52 x 47 in., 480 lb. (191.8 x 132.1 x 119.4 cm, 217.7kg) storage (crate): 89 1/2 × 66 1/2 × 63 1/2 in. (227.3 × 168.9 × 161.3 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 1997.191
CREDIT LINE Anonymous gift in honor of Charlotta Kotik
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Petah Coyne (American, born 1953). Untitled #816 (Dr. Zhivago), 1995-1996. Formulated wax, steel, antique birdhouse, wire cable, ribbon, silk flowers, candles, 75 1/2 x 52 x 47 in., 480 lb. (191.8 x 132.1 x 119.4 cm, 217.7kg). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift in honor of Charlotta Kotik, 1997.191. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Photograph courtesy of Galerie Lelong, NY, CUR.1997.191_view1_Galerie_Lelong_NY_Wit_McKay_photo.jpg)
IMAGE overall, CUR.1997.191_view1_Galerie_Lelong_NY_Wit_McKay_photo.jpg. Photograph courtesy of Galerie Lelong, NY
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RIGHTS STATEMENT © Petah Coyne, Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
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