Object number2021.17

Kryptek

Date2019-2021

Artist Matthew Barney (American, born 1967)

CultureAmerican

MediumHard-ground etching in black ink on hand-dyed Evolon AP microfiber paper with electroformed copper in high-density polyethylene frame

EditionEdition 6 of 12 plus 3 artist's proofs, 2 printer's proofs, BAT

DimensionsPlate: 10 x 7 3/4 in. (25.4 x 19.7 cm)
Sheet: 14 x 12 in. (35.6 x 30.5 cm)
Overall: 15 1/4 x 13 1/2 in. (38.7 x 34.3 cm)
Framed: 20 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. (52.1 x 47 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, gift of Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson, by exchange

On View

Not on view

Period21st c

Classification(s)

SignedOn copper plate recto, incised signature lower right: Matthew Barney

InscribedOn copper plate recto, by artist, incised lower left: 6/12; incised lower right: 2021

BibliographyElisabeth Hodermarsky, “The Dynamo and the Virgin: The Electrocoppered Plates of Redoubt,” in Matthew Barney: Redoubt. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 139-178.

Vassar Exhibitions

In Translation: Prints Across Media

Chronostasia: Select Acquisitions 2020–2025

Label TextMatthew Barney’s career spans film, sculpture, drawing, performance, printmaking, and installation, creating works that merge myth with elaborate physical processes. Kryptek relates to his 2018 film Redoubt, which retells the myth of Diana and Actaeon in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. In the film, Barney plays the Engraver, who creates plein-air drawings on copper plates as he stalks Diana and her attendants, before taking the plates to the Electroplater’s remote laboratory. Barney developed this electroplating technique after discovering copper nodules growing through microscopic holes in masking tape during earlier experiments. “I was interested in making the prints more physical,” he explains. Collaborating with Two Palms Press, he subjects prints to electroplating over extended periods, allowing copper to build unpredictably across surfaces. The process suspends traditional printmaking between states—neither drawing nor sculpture—creating what he calls “a positive growth out of a line,” materializing time as crystalline deposit.

DescriptionAbstract forms of black lines of ink and textured copper on paper affixed to a brushed copper plate

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu