Black Dice

Copied John Baldessari, Black Dice, 1982, color aquatint, photo etching, soft ground and lift ground on paper, sheet: 16 1⁄2 x 19 3⁄4 in. (41.9 x 50.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1993.31.1A-I, © 1982, Peter Blum Edition and Blumarts, Inc., New York

Artwork Details

Title
Black Dice
Artist
Printer
Publisher
Peter Blum Edition
Date
1982
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 16 1⁄2 x 19 3⁄4 in. (41.9 x 50.2 cm)
Markings
lower right in pencil: BALDESSARI lower left in pencil: A.P.
Copyright
© 1982, Peter Blum Edition and Blumarts, Inc., New York
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums Description
color aquatint, photo etching, soft ground and lift ground on paper
Classifications
Keywords
  • Group
  • Figure male
  • State of being — evil — danger
  • Architecture Interior — commercial — hotel
Object Number
1993.31.1A-I
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1993.31.1A-I

Artwork Description

Black Dice is based on a still photograph derived from an English gangster film of that name. The photograph represents a split second from a longer, continuous narrative. The artist divided the image into nine equal sections and developed each as an independent abstract composition in which key elements of the original scene remain identifiable. Baldessari is interested in things exploding and imploding, and being disjunctive. He likes to include the original movie still when the prints are exhibited so that the viewer can better understand the individual parts as well as the whole.

Multiplicity, 2011