Running Man through Four Frames with Persian Script (All is One) at 2,415,911 and 2,677,372
Borofsky, who graduated with an MFA from Yale in 1966, is known for his large, figurative public sculptures, immersive installations, and prodigious output of large-scale ink drawings—both on paper and directly on the gallery or museum wall. The drawings are generally sourced from images and situations he encounters in his subconscious while dreaming, and the flurry of ink-work they manifest speaks to the fluidity of his imagination and mental state while drawing.
Running men became a recognizable and frequent motif in Borofsky's work in the 1970s, a time when he himself often jogged for excercise. But the runner has darker connotations, as well. As Mark Rosenthal writes in his 1984 monograph on the artist, the running figure also represents the artist's "escape from psychological anxiety." In as much as they might represent personal fitness or progress, they could also signify terror, fear, and escape from conflict, war, or other atrocities.
Running men became a recognizable and frequent motif in Borofsky's work in the 1970s, a time when he himself often jogged for excercise. But the runner has darker connotations, as well. As Mark Rosenthal writes in his 1984 monograph on the artist, the running figure also represents the artist's "escape from psychological anxiety." In as much as they might represent personal fitness or progress, they could also signify terror, fear, and escape from conflict, war, or other atrocities.
Artwork Details
- Title: Running Man through Four Frames with Persian Script (All is One) at 2,415,911 and 2,677,372
- Artist: Jonathan Borofsky (American, born Boston, Massachusetts, 1942)
- Date: 1976–80
- Medium: Black porous point pen and red watercolor with black acrylic paint over traces of graphite on paper
- Dimensions: 51 3/16 × 82 11/16 in. (130 × 210 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Gift of Lenore Weseley, in memory of Alvin and Jonathan Weseley, 2018
- Object Number: 2018.876
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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