Tschabalala Self (American, born 1990). <em>Piss</em>, 2019. Painted canvas, fabric, oil, acrylic, flashe, and gouache on canvas, 68 × 50 in. (172.7 × 127.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Dean Collection, 2020.15. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2020.15_view03_PS11.jpg)

Tschabalala Self (American, born 1990). Piss, 2019. Painted canvas, fabric, oil, acrylic, flashe, and gouache on canvas, 68 × 50 in. (172.7 × 127.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Dean Collection, 2020.15. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2020.15_view03_PS11.jpg)

DOWNLOAD

Piss

Tschabalala Self

Contemporary Art

Piss depicts a moment of lighthearted mischief in which two men keep watch over their friend, who turns his head toward the viewer as he urinates into the blue void. Tschabalala Self conjures a fantastical vision of everyday Harlem, where she grew up, through figures that defy expectations of the human body. The exaggerated forms and painted and sewn fabric scraps imbue the work with a peculiar sense of reality. Throughout her practice, Self engages with the visual languages of Blackness and otherness, allowing the two to exist on their own terms and imagining liberated means of existing in the world.

ARTIST Tschabalala Self, American, born 1990

MEDIUM Painted canvas, fabric, oil, acrylic, flashe, and gouache on canvas

DATES 2019

DIMENSIONS 68 × 50 in. (172.7 × 127.0 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 2020.15

CREDIT LINE Gift of The Dean Collection

EXHIBITIONS

The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Tschabalala Self (American, born 1990). Piss, 2019. Painted canvas, fabric, oil, acrylic, flashe, and gouache on canvas, 68 × 50 in. (172.7 × 127.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Dean Collection, 2020.15. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2020.15_view03_PS11.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 2020.15_view03_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2021

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org. If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Collection Menu

Piss

Tschabalala Self

Contemporary Art

RELATED OBJECTS