High Beams and Starlight: Beyond Absence - Double Negative, July 2003 PM

High Beams and Starlight: Beyond Absence - Double Negative, July 2003 PM

2004
Artist
Don Stinson, American, 1956-
Country
United States
Object
painting
Medium
Oil paint on linen
Accession Number
2006.5
Credit Line
Gift of Laure and Matt McConnell, Noel and Tom Congdon, Jennifer Doran, and Jim Robischon

Don Stinson, High Beams and Starlight: Beyond Absence–Double Negative, July 2003 PM, 2004. Oil on linen; 81 x 89 in. Denver Art Museum: Gift of Laure and Matt McConnell, Noel and Tom Congdon, Jennifer Doran, and Jim Robischon, 2006.5. © Don Stinson

Dimensions
height: 81 in, 205.7400 cm; width: 89 in, 226.0600 cm; depth: 2 in, 5.0800 cm
Department
Petrie Institute of Western American Art
Collection
Petrie Institute of Western American Art
This object is currently on view

Known for his photorealistic painting, here Don Stinson appears to present a straightforward desert landscape. However, this is actually an artwork within an artwork: the headlights of an unseen car illuminate Michael Heizer’s earth sculpture Double Negative in Nevada. This work, made of two massive trenches excavated from the rim of a canyon, considers how absence (the displaced soil) can create a work of art. As Heizer himself said, “There is nothing there, yet it is still sculpture.”

Conocido por su pintura fotorrealista, aquí Don Stinson parece presentar un paisaje desértico sencillo. Sin embargo, esta es, en realidad, una obra de arte dentro de otra: los faros de un automóvil invisible iluminan Doble negativo, la escultura de tierra de Michael Heizer en Nevada. Esta obra, hecha de dos enormes trincheras excavadas en el borde de un cañón, considera cómo la ausencia (la tierra desplazada) puede crear una obra de arte. Como Heizer mismo dijo: “No hay nada allí, pero sigue siendo una escultura”.

Known Provenance
Artist; (Robischon Gallery) Denver, CO; Gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2006
Exhibition History
  • “The Light Show” — Denver Art Museum, 5/19/2019 – 3/7/2021

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