In Germany in the 1980s, Kippenberger was known for his outrageous and provocative behavior, both in his art and his personal life. A particularly vicious article by a German art critic served as the catalyst for this and several other "Martin in the Corner" sculptures, which consist of full-scale replicas of the artist posed like a naughty schoolboy doing his penance. Kippenberger created six versions of the sculpture. Each one is uniquely made and clothed,and the faces and hands are cast in aluminum from molds of his own body. While the other Martin figures are dressed more formally, this figure, commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art, wears Levi's jeans and a shirt with a globe on it, a nod to casual American fashion and MoMA's role as an international center of modern art.

Gallery label from

Contemporary Galleries: 1980-Now, November 17, 2011-February 17, 2014.

Medium Cast aluminum, clothing, and iron plate
Dimensions 71 1/2 x 29 1/2 x 13 1/2" (181.6 x 74.9 x 34.3 cm)
Credit Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund Bequest, Anna Marie and Robert F. Shapiro, Jerry I. Speyer, and Michael and Judy Ovitz Funds
Object number 525.1992
Department Painting & Sculpture

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