Complete set of 4 color woodcuts on Korean Kozo paper, 1989. Each 610x458 mm; 24x18 inches, full margins. Each signed, titled, dated and numbered 23/25 in pencil, verso. Printed by Derriere L'Etoile Studios, New York. Published by Peter Blum Edition, New York.
In Meltdown, Sherrie Levine simplifies and abstracts iconic works from early modernists Duchamp, Kirchner, Mondrian and Monet. To create these prints, the artist took photographs of reproductions, scanned the photos, and using a computer program reduced them into 12 pixels, translating these color fields into woodcuts with each print titled after the artist it reproduces.
Levine's work centers around the idea of reproduction and appropriation, calling into question the concept of artistic ownership and originality. She rose to prominence in the late 1970s as a member of the Pictures Generation, beginning her "After" series, in which she creates photographic reproductions and facsimiles of works by predominantly male figures from the Western art historical canon. Many see her work as a reclamation and subversion of the rigid male-dominated structure of art history, however, she prefers to view it as an act of collaboration and renewal.
