No title [Jason Crum], c. 1968
- Medium
- Crayon, graphite and collage on paper
- Dimensions
- Frame (white wood): 24 3/4 x 29 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (62.87 x 74.93 x 4.45 cm) Paper: 17 1/2 x 22 1/2 in. (44.45 x 57.15 cm)
- Accession Number
- 2005.31
- Credit
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Purchase with funds provided by The Gene J. Burton Acquisitions Endowment
In Lee Lozano’s drawing, seemingly
unrelated forms—a red penis, a light switch, flathead screws, a black sun, and
abstract scribbles—jostle for space around a toothy grin. Untitled (Jason Crum)’s multiple evocations of lowliness partake of
pop art’s preference for everyday, banal mass culture subjects over the more
elevated subject matter typical of fine art. For instance, the collaged
business cards, doubling as teeth, advertise sign-painting services; such commercial
art was traditionally considered inferior to the fine arts. Additionally, Lozano’s
use of crayon in exuberant colors suggests a certain childlike or amateurish
quality. Further, she depicted base, vulgar body parts, as in the form on the
right that morphs from a twirled moustache to a raunchy green chin/scrotum/buttocks.