EPITAPH FOR MARILYN MONROE

An exponent of concrete poetry in Austria and cofounder of the “Wiener Gruppe” (Vienna Group), Gerhard Rühm made a name for himself at a young age as a poet and visual artist, director and performer, appearing in readings, performative events, and plays together with H. C. Artmann, Friedrich Achleitner, and Konrad Bayer. Writing is a key concern in Rühm’s visual art, which examines the interactions between text, individual word, and graphical representation. For the collage “EPITAPH FOR MARILYN MONROE,” he clipped passages from a newspaper report of the actress’s death in the shapes of two exclamation points. Their arrangement on the black ground inevitably brings to mind the Hollywood icon’s most famous pose, her skirt blowing up around her.

Credit: Purchased with Austrian Federal Gallery Support funding

Not on display