SPIN (orange)

Paul Henry Ramirez, SPIN (orange), 2009, screenprint on linen canvas with rotating wall-mount armature, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2011.11.3A-B, © 2009, Paul Henry Ramirez
Copied Paul Henry Ramirez, SPIN (orange), 2009, screenprint on linen canvas with rotating wall-mount armature, 44 x 44 in. (111.9 x 111.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2011.11.3A-B, © 2009, Paul Henry Ramirez

Artwork Details

Title
SPIN (orange)
Artist
Date
2009
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
44 x 44 in. (111.9 x 111.9 cm)
Copyright
© 2009, Paul Henry Ramirez
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
screenprint on linen canvas with rotating wall-mount armature
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
Object Number
2011.11.3A-B
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2011.11.3A-B

Artwork Description

Ramirez’s painting activates biomorphic forms within the tight confines of a square canvas. The dark rounded shapes that push against the colorful orange edges suggest mutating cells, breasts, buttocks and other sensual zones. The implied movement is further intensified when this painting – which is mounted on a turntable – is allowed to spin. The effect is to inject a kind of playful sexual nuance into an otherwise abstract mode of representation.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
Description in Spanish

La pintura de Ramirez activa formas biomórficas en los confines estrechos de este lienzo cuadrado. Las formas oscuras y redondeadas que chocan contra los coloridos bordes anaranjados sugieren células mutantes, pechos, nalgas y otras zonas sensuales. El movimiento implícito se intensifica aún más cuando el cuadro —que está montado en una base rotatoria— se hace girar. El efecto es la proyección de un matiz sexual lúdico en un modo de representación que de otra manera sería puramente abstracto.

Nuestra América: la presencia latina en el arte estadounidense, 2013

Related Books

OurAmerica_500.jpg
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art explores how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture. This beautifully illustrated volume presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge. Our America includes works by artists who participated in all the various artistic styles and movements, including abstract expressionism; activist, conceptual, and performance art; and classic American genres such as landscape, portraiture, and scenes of everyday life. 

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
October 25, 2013–March 2, 2014
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.