Untitled (Horsecollar)

Ann Hamilton is an established contemporary artist best known for her large-scale installations that combine spoken and written word with sculpture, textiles, audio, and video. Her intention is for viewers to be active participants and to engage all their senses when experiencing her artwork. Hamilton made this untitled multiple in the early 1990s. It consists of a cloth collar with the alphabet hand-sewn into it with horsehair. The horsehair’s long ends project outward, creating a ruff. The alphabet was modeled on the “Renaissance Alphabet” designed by Giovanni Francesco Cresci, a Milanese calligrapher who was active in Rome in the late sixteenth century. When worn, the letters are illegible to the viewer, though present in the projecting strands of hair. The horsehair that Hamilton used to create the edition had been incorporated into her 1993 installation titled “tropos” at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York.