Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a print by Deborah Kass. It dates from 1992 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
The work belongs to her broader practice that interrogates the male-dominated canon of modern art through reproduction and recontextualization.
Deborah Kass created this untitled Xerox print in 1992 as part of her ongoing exploration of artistic authorship and representation. Using a photocopier, she produced a series of identical yet subtly varied portraits, challenging traditional notions of originality in art. The work belongs to her broader practice that interrogates the male-dominated canon of modern art through reproduction and recontextualization.
Subject & Meaning
The image features nine repetitions of a single face, each rotated to a different angle against a black field. The lack of context or identity for the subject invites questions about visibility and anonymity. By multiplying the portrait, Kass examines how identity is constructed, fragmented, and mediated through mechanical reproduction, highlighting the tension between individuality and mass replication.
Technique & Style
Kass employed a standard office photocopier to generate the work, deliberately choosing a low-tech, accessible method over conventional fine art processes. The resulting images are monochrome, with slight tonal shifts and distortions inherent to the copying process. This mechanical repetition creates a rhythmic grid, subverting the uniqueness typically associated with portraiture and emphasizing the role of technology in shaping perception.
History & Provenance
The work entered the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, affirming its significance within contemporary art discourse. It emerged during a period when Kass was actively reworking visual strategies from male artists like Warhol and Pollock, using appropriation to critique gender imbalances in art history. Its inclusion in MoMA’s holdings situates it within institutional conversations about representation and canon formation.
Context
Created in the early 1990s, this piece reflects broader cultural and artistic debates around identity politics, feminism, and the legacy of modernism. Kass’s use of Xerox aligns with postmodern strategies of appropriation, while her focus on the face as a site of repeated scrutiny resonates with contemporaneous discussions on media saturation and the construction of selfhood in a visual culture.
Legacy
This work contributes to Kass’s sustained critique of art historical hierarchies through the lens of gender and reproduction. By elevating a mundane technology to the status of artistic medium, she expanded the possibilities of printmaking and challenged distinctions between high and low culture. Her approach continues to influence artists examining identity, reproduction, and institutional power.
Artist & collection
Artist
Deborah Kass (born 1952) is an American artist whose work explores the intersection of pop culture, art history, and the construction of self.
