Nicotine
2016
Karon Davis
Contemporary Art
Karon Davis reflects on experiences of care and grief through this lifelike sculpture of a nurse or caregiver during a moment of repose. Nicotine—its title a reference to the mood-altering substance contained in the cigarette in the figure’s hand—was originally installed in a gallery that re-created the space of a hospital waiting room, a place in which the occupants experience time, hope, connection, and loss in acute ways. The tattered figure embodies the weight of healthcare work and expresses how people cope and rest when confronted with illness.
- Maker/Artist
- Karon Davis
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Formatted Medium
- Plaster, cloth, oil paint, synthetic hair, clothing, wire, shredded bills, coffee cup, wood, mirror, cigarette
- Medium
- plaster, cloth, oil, paint, synthetic, hair, clothing, wire, shredded, bills, coffee, cup, wood, mirror, cigarette
- Dimensions
- 50 1/2 × 245 1/2 × 31 in. (128.3 × 623.6 × 78.7 cm) storage (2022 storage volume for seated figure on storage base): 58 × 58 × 36 in. (147.3 × 147.3 × 91.4 cm) storage (Tycore sandwich for storing Mirror): 2 × 52 × 20 in. (5.1 × 132.1 × 50.8 cm)
- Departments
- Contemporary Art
- Accession Number
- 2018.2
- Credit Line
- Purchase gift of Beth Rudin DeWoody
- Rights Statement
- © artist or artist's estate
- Museum Location
- This item is not on view
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