Barbara Bloom Safe 1999
© Barbara Bloom
The framed print that partially obscures a real wall safe in this work is a still from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 film Marnie depicting the gloved hand of actress Tippi Hedren turning the tumblers of a safe’s lock. The work plays on the cinematic cliché of the secret safe hidden behind a gilt-framed painting. At the same time, it invites questions about the value of artworks, and particularly their utility as financial investments.
Barbara Bloom is associated with a loosely defined group from the late 1970s and 1980s that has been labeled the Pictures Generation. Along with artists such as Barbara Kruger, Richard Prince, and Cindy Sherman, Bloom has expanded on Andy Warhol’s method of extracting pictures from popular media like movies, music, advertisements, and fashion magazines, while incorporating feminist content and other forms of identity politics.
Identification
Title
Safe
Production Date
1999
Object Number
2011.63
Credit Line
Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, museum purchase with funds provided by PAMM’s Collectors Council
Copyright
© Barbara Bloom
https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2011.63
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Physical Qualities
Medium
Framed digital print and wall safe
Dimensions
Framed (Print): 19 x 23 inches
Wall Safe: 12 x 15 3/4 x 4 inches
Visual Description
Safe by artist Barbara Bloom is a multimedia art work made of a framed digital print and a wall safe. The print measures approximately one and a half feet by two feet and is hung in portrait orientation, meaning its shortest side runs parallel to the ground. The safe measures one foot by about one and a half feet and is four inches deep. The safe is mounted into the wall and is grey with a black dial. It is closed and partially obscured by the framed print.
The frame is made of wood and has a natural finish. It is mounted on a hinge and is not flush against the wall. Instead, it is at an angle like a door left ajar. The print it is housing depicts a hand wearing a grey glove with a reflective material that could be rubber or leather. The wrist of the figure’s hand is exposed and has light skin. The rest of the arm is not visible. The hand is opening what appears to be a knob to a door. The knob is silver with a metallic finish and has small ornamentations around its base. The rest of the composition is a dark black with a thin strip of light in the bottom left of the print.
