Brancusi

In her best known works, Liliana Porter composes still-life arrangements of small items such as toys, figurines, and other knickknacks. She monumentalizes these personally collected objects by isolating them within an empty background. The little toys, many of which possess an uncanny anthropomorphic quality, form witty juxtapositions with one another. In Brancusi, a bird gazes at an image of a marble egg, as though contemplating its own origins. Porter frequently incorporates reproductions of other artists’ works in her images, such as this postcard depicting Constantin Brancusi’s Sculpture for the Blind. The bird ornament further references Brancusi’s series of sleek Bird in Space sculptures, which the Romanian artist produced beginning in 1923. Porter’s playful reverence extends to other art historical figures for whom she has great respect, such as Belgian Surrealist René Magritte, whose treatment of objects as signifiers parallels Porter’s own approach to her inanimate subject matter.