Kiss Off
Vito Acconci
1 of 2
Caption
Vito Acconci (American, 1940–2017). Kiss Off, 1971. Lithograph in Black ink and lipstick, 30 1/8 × 22 3/4 in. (76.5 × 57.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Steven Kazan, 1992.188.
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Artist
Title
Kiss Off
Date
1971
Medium
Lithograph in Black ink and lipstick
Classification
Dimensions
30 1/8 × 22 3/4 in. (76.5 × 57.8 cm)
Signatures
Inscribed in graphite lower edge recto
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Steven Kazan
Accession Number
1992.188
Frequent Art Questions
Tell me more.
Vito Acconci’s artworks of the 1960s and 1970s explore the often unspoken physical, gendered, sexual, and emotional relationships between artist and viewer. This work addresses gender presentation.Acconci put lipstick on and then kissed his own hand, slowly removing the lipstick in the process of transference.This lithograph is a direct documentation of Acconci's performance.Acconci has said of his performances at this time: "The early work applied stress to the body that then had to adapt, change, open up, because of that stress. Remember, this was just after the late sixties, the time—the starting time of gender other than male, race other than white, culture other than Western; I wanted to get rid of myself so there could be room for other selves."Did he put on the lipstick to make himself appear feminine?
That's a big part of it. He was challenging stereotypes of what it meant to be "feminine" and what it meant to be "masculine." Not much earlier, in the the 1960s, many social conventions were called into question.
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