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Tightrope: Yellow Season
Artist:
Elias Sime
(Ethiopian, born 1968)
Date: 2017
Medium: Reclaimed electronic wires on panel
Dimensions:
55 × 110 in. (139.7 × 279.4 cm)
Classification: Contemporary art
Credit Line: Museum purchase with funds provided by Joe Waldo and Ashby Vail, Susan and David Goode, Oriana McKinnon, Penny and Peter Meredith, Meredith and Brother Rutter, Pam and Bob Sasser, Cynthia and Stuart Katz, Clay H. Barr, Mary Jane and Cabell Birdsong, Christina Goode, Virginia and John Hitch, Amy and Kirk Levy, Angelica and Henry Light, Ashlin and Wayne Wilbanks, Lisa Smith and Maurice Jones, Selina and Tom Stokes, and Anne Corso and Timothy Griffith
Copyright: © Elias Sime
Object number: 2017.38
In Collection(s)
Not on view
DescriptionAn abstract mosaic comprising 42 individual, numbered panels that create a larger image. The panels are covered with braided electronic wire formed into flat shapes that are held in place with nails.
Label textElias Sime
Ethiopian, b. 1968
Tightrope: Yellow Season, 2017
Mixed media
This seeming "tapestry" is actually a relief sculpture composed of several computer motherboards covered in braded, multicolored electronic wire. Growing up near an open-air market in Addis Ababa, Elias Sime was keenly aware of his neighbors who could turn discarded materials into useful, beautiful treasures. His practice connects to the forced ingenuity of his community, stemming from the lack of available resources and the expense of importing traditional art materials. And though one can marvel at the artist's imagination, Sime's works also tell a complex, global story of consumerism, consumption, and the exploitation of materials.
Museum purchase with funds provided by Joe Waldo and Ashby Vail, Susan and David Goode, Oriana McKinnon, Penny and Peter Meredith, Meredith and Brother Rutter, Pam and Bob Sasser, Cynthia and Stuart Katz, Clay H. Barr, Mary Jane and Cabell Birdsong, Christina Goode, Virginia and John Hitch, Amy and Kirk Levy, Angelica and Henry Light, Ashlin and Wayne Wilbanks, Lisa Smith and Maurice Jones, Selina and Tom Stokes, and Anne Corso and Timothy Griffith 2017.38
Ethiopian, b. 1968
Tightrope: Yellow Season, 2017
Mixed media
This seeming "tapestry" is actually a relief sculpture composed of several computer motherboards covered in braded, multicolored electronic wire. Growing up near an open-air market in Addis Ababa, Elias Sime was keenly aware of his neighbors who could turn discarded materials into useful, beautiful treasures. His practice connects to the forced ingenuity of his community, stemming from the lack of available resources and the expense of importing traditional art materials. And though one can marvel at the artist's imagination, Sime's works also tell a complex, global story of consumerism, consumption, and the exploitation of materials.
Museum purchase with funds provided by Joe Waldo and Ashby Vail, Susan and David Goode, Oriana McKinnon, Penny and Peter Meredith, Meredith and Brother Rutter, Pam and Bob Sasser, Cynthia and Stuart Katz, Clay H. Barr, Mary Jane and Cabell Birdsong, Christina Goode, Virginia and John Hitch, Amy and Kirk Levy, Angelica and Henry Light, Ashlin and Wayne Wilbanks, Lisa Smith and Maurice Jones, Selina and Tom Stokes, and Anne Corso and Timothy Griffith 2017.38