Lick and Lather
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.These two self-portrait busts have changed and will continue to change over time. One is made of soap, the other chocolate. After fashioning the sculptures, Antoni licked the chocolate version and bathed with the version in soap, eroding her features. As she once said, "There’s this element of destruction, that we have to kind of unmake in order to make, and that interests me very much." Owing to their materials, the works will age at an accelerated rate. Here, the artist challenges the conventions of the classical portrait bust, premised as it is upon immortality and permanence, not to mention the heroism and authority of the white men such busts typically portray.
Artwork Details
- Title: Lick and Lather
- Artist: Janine Antoni (American, born Freeport, Bahamas, 1964)
- Date: 1993-1994
- Medium: Chocolate and soap
- Dimensions: Head I: 24 × 13 in. (61 × 33 cm)
Head II: 16 × 13 in. (40.6 × 33 cm)
Base: 45 × 13 in. (114.3 × 33 cm) - Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Collection of Jill and Peter Kraus
- Rights and Reproduction: © Janine Antoni, courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art