Tragicómico
Artist name
Artist year born
1967
Artwork make date
2002
Artwork title translation
Tragi-comic
Artwork material
oil
raquet cover
raquet cover
Artwork dimensions
height: 80.5cm
width: 26.5cm
depth: 3cm
width: 26.5cm
depth: 3cm
Artwork type (categories)
Object
Accession method
Donated by Patricio Grose Forrester 2003
Accession number
5-2003
Label text
Patricio Grose Forrester's artistic output includes photographs, paintings, films, murals, drawings, interventions and 'art to wear'. Ganador cómico / perdedor trágico belongs to a category of artworks that Forrester describes as 'painted objects.'
This example is an old tennis racket, its cover painted on each side with a self-portrait, one grinning, and one frowning. The racket is attached to a motor and as it spins the happy and sad faces merge into one another producing an unsettling image. The self-portraits derive from photographs that Forrester took in 1996 called Joker and Loser respectively. Transferred to a new medium they recall the ancient Greek juxtaposition of tragedy and comedy in art, often represented by anonymous smiling and frowning masks. As it spins, Ganador cómico / perdedor trágico perhaps reflects the futile energy we exert in representing masks of ourselves to others; a battle, or tennis game, that we play with ourselves. Like many of Forrester's works, it derives its affect from being at once funny, serious and slightly ridiculous.
Joanne Harwood
This example is an old tennis racket, its cover painted on each side with a self-portrait, one grinning, and one frowning. The racket is attached to a motor and as it spins the happy and sad faces merge into one another producing an unsettling image. The self-portraits derive from photographs that Forrester took in 1996 called Joker and Loser respectively. Transferred to a new medium they recall the ancient Greek juxtaposition of tragedy and comedy in art, often represented by anonymous smiling and frowning masks. As it spins, Ganador cómico / perdedor trágico perhaps reflects the futile energy we exert in representing masks of ourselves to others; a battle, or tennis game, that we play with ourselves. Like many of Forrester's works, it derives its affect from being at once funny, serious and slightly ridiculous.
Joanne Harwood
Last updated date
2008