GRAIN P‑128

Ken Ohara, GRAIN P-128, 1993, eighty-one 8-x-10 in. gelatin silver prints and masking tape, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Ohara Family, 2017.42A-CCCC
Copied Ken Ohara, GRAIN P-128, 1993, eighty-one 8-x-10 in. gelatin silver prints and masking tape, 95 × 78 in. (241.3 × 198.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Ohara Family, 2017.42A-CCCC

Artwork Details

Title
GRAIN P‑128
Artist
Date
1993
Dimensions
95 × 78 in. (241.3 × 198.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the Ohara Family
Mediums Description
eighty-one 8-x-10 in. gelatin silver prints and masking tape
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure — fragment — face
Object Number
2017.42A-CCCC

Artwork Description

For the monumental portrait series Grain, Ken Ohara prepared ninety-five-by-seventy-eight-inch sheets enlarged from the negatives made for his portrait series ONE (on view nearby). Wishing to experiment with scale in works that referenced the earlier series, he cut the sheets into eight-by-ten-inch panels and recomposed them as grids, forming one large portrait. The seams separating the panels were made using reflective silver tape.

While serving the practical function of adhering the paper prints to their transparent coverings, the tape also performs a perceptual trick by seeming to appear or disappear. Depending on your distance from Grain P-128, you might see the singular portrait, or you might see the parts that make it a photographic object: paper and silver.