A print of white hazy circles of various sizes randomly spread across a warm brown background. All but four of the white circles contain a smaller red dot.

Ross Bleckner

Antibody Diversity

Maker

Ross Bleckner (American, b. 1949)
Scott Brubach (American), printer
Paulson Press Intaglio Printing (American), publisher

Title

Antibody Diversity

Year

1999

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

color aquatint

Supports

Dimensions

Sheet: 101.5 x 77.5 cm (39 15/16 x 30 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original: in pencil on recto below image, LC: AP10; RC: Ross Bleckner 99

Marks: Embossed in LRC of recto. Paulson Press blind stamp.

Identification

State

AP

Edition

10/50

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

2002.66

Type

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 17: Variance

This issue complements the RISD Museum exhibition Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability, on view through October 9, 2022.

Exhibition History

Variance
Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability
Feb 01, 2022 – Oct 09, 2022

Label copy

In this striking print, irregularly shaped dots create a rhythmic, undulating field. This oscillation between optical abstraction and biological content is typical of artist Ross Bleckner’s work. Early in the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Bleckner-who was working as an openly gay man-made abstract works that engaged with what was happening around him. Rather than speaking about in straightforward terms of infection or experience, this print suggests the subtle variation of the body.

In a 2016 interview, Bleckner explained his work as an “intersection between us being people with consciousness and awareness, and us being vectors for virus. That always has fascinated me. And that our skin is very fragile and protects us.”

Image use

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In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Ross Bleckner (American, b. 1949)
Scott Brubach (American), printer
Paulson Press Intaglio Printing (American), publisher
Antibody Diversity, 1999
Color spit-bite aquatint on paper
Sheet: 101.5 x 77.5 cm (39 15/16 x 30 1/2 inches)
Mary B. Jackson Fund 2002.66

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