Artwork Details
54 x 18-1/2 x 30-3/4 in.
Accession NumberEfroymson Pavilion Art Installation Fund
CopyrightProvenance
Provenance
Lent by Erwin Wurm, Vienna, Austria, and (Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong); Purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2015.
Gallery Labels
Gallery Labels
In this installation, contemporary artist Erwin Wurm presents a realistic sculpture of a hunched-over skeleton, its skull propping two yogurt cups against the wall. The sculpture resonates with the nearby seventeenth-century Dutch still life featuring two skulls. Paintings with such imagery were known as
vanitas, a type of still life that reminded the viewer of the transience of life, the vanity of earthly pleasures, and the inevitability of death.Through this human skeleton fixed in place,
One Minute Forever symbolically asks viewers to question the future of their own bodies and lives. Contrasting this unusual contemporary work with traditional historical painting offers an intriguing dialogue across the centuries, reminding audiences that all art was once contemporary.Content Disclaimer and Usage Rights
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