Thomas Hirschhorn

Wall Display

1988-89

Thirty part assemblage of felt-tip pen, ballpoint pen, and acrylic paint, with pressure-sensitive tape, cut-and-pasted printed paper, postcards, paper plates, abrasive pads, and instant prints on cardboard, wood, book covers, and pressboard

Not on view

While at first glance Wall Display may seem like a formal exercise in organizing abstract shapes, a closer look at the work’s thirty individual components reveals that it incorporates images from the world we live in. Hirschhorn has taken everyday materials such as cardboard and packing tape and used them to make collages from newspaper clippings, Disney cartoons, and images from advertising and art history. You can see traces of his hand directly on the work, in the form of writing or printed text that’s been crossed out—as though the information it contains is so sensitive it necessitates redaction.

Gallery label from

2023

Medium Thirty part assemblage of felt-tip pen, ballpoint pen, and acrylic paint, with pressure-sensitive tape, cut-and-pasted printed paper, postcards, paper plates, abrasive pads, and instant prints on cardboard, wood, book covers, and pressboard
Dimensions 98 1/2 x 137 7/8" (250.2 x 350.2 cm)
Credit Purchased with funds provided by Jill and Peter Kraus and Committee on Drawings Funds
Object number 14.2010.a-dd
Department Drawings and Prints

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