Pressure Piece

Ranging from the macrocosmic scale of Land Art to the microcosmic scale of Body Art, Dennis Oppenheim’s artworks include sculpture, performance, photography, and video. The three images in Pressure Piece are video stills from Oppenheim’s Identity Transfer (1970), part of his “Aspen Projects” series. This series records ritualistic performance actions in which the artist uses his own body as a material to explore and manipulate. In this investigation, Oppenheim carefully presses his fingernail into the fleshy pad of another finger. The final image presents the indentation that results from this act.