Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an acrylic painting by the Contemporary Abstract artist Seth Price. It dates from 2022 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Untitled (2022) is a two-panel painting by Seth Price, composed of acrylic paint, polymers, and UV-printed imagery on aluminum composite.
Untitled (2022) is a two-panel painting by Seth Price, composed of acrylic paint, polymers, and UV-printed imagery on aluminum composite. The work combines industrial materials with gestural mark-making, resulting in a layered surface that resists clear interpretation. Its scale and materiality sit between traditional painting and digital reproduction, reflecting Price’s interest in the instability of image-making in contemporary culture.
Subject & Meaning
The left panel features a blurred, reflective disc that suggests a distorted reflection of an interior space, possibly a room with a window. This element contrasts with the chaotic, swirling masses of pigment on the right, which evoke turbulence without depicting a specific scene. The work avoids narrative clarity, instead presenting visual noise as a metaphor for information overload and the fragmentation of perception in digital environments.
Technique & Style
Price applied thick, uneven layers of acrylic and polymers, creating a sense of material decay or dissolution. UV-printed elements are embedded beneath these painterly gestures, merging mechanical reproduction with hand-made texture. The palette, dominated by deep purples, burnt oranges, and black, conveys intensity without warmth.
Brushwork is aggressive and unrefined, emphasizing process over polish, and the surface appears to shift under changing light.
History & Provenance
Created in 2022, Untitled entered the collection of The Museum of Modern Art shortly after its completion. It is part of a broader body of work by Price that interrogates the circulation of images through digital and physical media. The piece reflects his long-standing engagement with the materiality of reproduction and the erosion of authorship in contemporary art practices.
Context
Price’s work emerges from a post-internet artistic context, where digital imagery, mass production, and analog techniques coexist. Untitled responds to the saturation of visual data and the difficulty of distinguishing original from copy. Its tension between control and chaos mirrors broader cultural anxieties about technology’s impact on perception, memory, and authenticity.
Legacy
Untitled contributes to an ongoing dialogue in contemporary painting about the role of the hand, the machine, and the archive. By embedding printed imagery within layered, unstable paint, Price challenges distinctions between original and reproduction. The work stands as a quiet critique of image consumption, influencing younger artists who explore materiality in digital-age contexts.
Artist & collection
Artist
Seth Price is a New York City-based multi-disciplinary post-conceptual artist. He lives and works in New York City.
