The unwashed coffee mug that sits on the sofa

Result #1

The unwashed coffee mug that sits on the sofa in the middle of the room is also part of the work. The photograph of this mug is also titled The World Above (all works 2000). This mug is a human one, a one that, according to the artist, had been washed by the wind, and that has thus become a mask. The wind blows through the mug, which becomes an impenetrable barrier to the world beyond. In this way, the image of the mug, with its two faces and its reflections, seems to be both a representation and a drawing, a representation and a drawing, a representation and a drawing. At the same time, the image of the coffee cup, with its two faces and its reflection, seems to be both a representation of the world as a cup, and a world beyond the world of cups.The photograph that is also titled The World Above is a photographic reproduction of a sculpture that is already a sculpture. The piece consists of two pieces of black rubber. The rubber is wrapped in a black cloth, like a skin. The cloth is stretched, like a mask, over the rubber, so that it covers the rubber, and the rubber becomes a skin, a skin that hides the object that is already a sculpture. The rubber is a skin, a skin that reveals itself as a sculpture, as a sculptural object.The title of the work, The World Above, also points to the world as an apparatus, a mechanism that is both a representation and a thing. This is why the image of the coffee cup, with its two faces and its reflection, becomes both a representation of the world as a cup, and a world beyond the world of cups. The photograph that is also titled The World Above is a reproduction of a photograph, too, but here the reproduction is of an actual cup, one that is lying on the floor.

Result #2

The unwashed coffee mug that sits on the sofa next to the radiator that holds the television and the radio—a reminder that the situation of the artist-auditor is always at the threshold of the most accessible and interpretive aspect of the work. The bottom half of the television, in which a documentary about a crime in the streets of Venice is shown, is presented as a flat view of a skyscraper; the two-minute break between the two scenes is punctuated by the words that comprise the title of the piece: The Real Thing. The scene is cut to a shot of a television set. The words are spoken in a low, low, and low voice, a low and a high, and the same low and high, but with an emphasis on the phrase, I am here. In the next shot, the words are spoken in a high and a high voice. The words are spoken in a high and a low voice, and the two phrases are interrupted by the words of the next shot, the words of the next shot, and so on. The words are interrupted again by the words of the next shot. Then the video ends.The piece is a series of ruminations on the way the artist sees the world—a commentary on what we see and do, and on the way we see and do things. The ruminations are subtle, but not entirely without an occasional digression. A number of photographs are shown with a different series of words and phrases. The photographs are of a girl standing in a park; the words are of the woman. The girl is surrounded by trees. The trees are of a particular kind of tree, and the words are of a woman. The woman is standing in a park; the words are of a woman. The woman is surrounded by a tree. The trees are of a particular kind of tree, and the words are of a man. The man is standing in a park; the words are of a woman.

Result #3

The unwashed coffee mug that sits on the sofa in a corner of the gallery has been stolen, and a camera is hidden beneath a coffee cup, a broken mirror in the corner of the studio, and the rearview mirrors of a car in the studio are visible through the doorway. There is an unspoken implication that the house is empty, but one can only guess that the thieves have left behind a camera, and the artist is still looking for it. It is hard not to speculate about the implications of this ambiguous situation. It is also hard not to speculate about the implications of the acts that are implied by the objects in this scene. The photographs have been removed from the walls and placed in the center of the room, and the mirrors, which were once part of the furniture, have been removed from the room. In the middle of the room stands a television set that transmits the images of the works in the gallery to the television set in the studio, which transmits them to the viewer. The work of the artist is itself a situation of disappearance. The artist is the photographer who has disappeared; the act of looking at the images of the objects in the gallery is a hidden act of disappearance.The implication of a situation of disappearance is also implicit in the works themselves, which are mounted on the wall in the same way as the photographs, and their surfaces are covered in a white waxlike substance that resembles dried blood. The objects are arranged in a grid pattern that is repeated over and over again, forming a sort of labyrinth. In the grid, a number of small images of faces appear, frozen in a pose of contemplation. The grid is broken by small images of faces that resemble the mouths of children. The children are staring at the grid; they are looking at the faces, not at the grid. The images of faces that form the grid are like the faces in a photograph, but the photograph is itself a reflection of the grid. The grid is broken by the image of the faces, which are like the grid.

Result #4

next to the television set in one picture—a reference to the kind of coffee cups that serve as collectors pieces—is an obvious pun on the phrase comic-strip artist. The coffee mug, like the lampshade, is a perfect example of the capitalist logic that has been the subject of all the work in the show. It is a signifier of consumption, an adornment of the commodity, a signifier of the money that has been the subject of all the art in this show. One can see here that the art of the art of consumption is not a self-contained object, but a series of signs that is the sign of its time.

Result #5

in the photo is a classic, if not the only, representation of the artist in her studio, complete with the usual stuff—dog shit, toilet paper, cardboard boxes, and all. For this mug, the artist has used the same materials that she has used in the past, in this case a cheap plastic one, but one that has been treated with paint. The result is a work that is mostly white, a conventional white table, and a white coffee mug, but with a single black one. The work is a simple but effective illustration of the artists studio, a reminder that art is always already a work of art.