Untitled
1995
graphite
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
1995
graphite
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
Dominant colour
Untitled is a 1995 graphite by Martin Kippenberger, held at Museum of Modern Art.
This looks like a messy, scribbled hotel receipt turned into art. Bright yellow letters spell out words like "HOTEL" and "A LA GRANDE CLOCHE" at the top. Below, a tangle of colored lines—red, blue, green—crisscross everywhere, with some shapes looking like letters or faces. A faint sketch of a person’s head appears in the bottom right, half-hidden by the chaos. The artist used whatever was handy: pens, pencils, even the hotel’s printed info. It’s like someone doodled while thinking hard, letting the marks pile up without a clear plan. The mix of neat writing and wild scribbles makes it feel both personal and a little chaotic. Next, check out cross-hatching to see how artists use layers of lines to build up images.
