Martha Wilson
Mona/Marcel/Marge
2014
Lenticular print, framed
73,5 x 53 cm
Acquisition date: 2023
Edition of 10 + 3 AP, signed and numbered

Martha Wilson was born in 1947 in Philadelphia (PA, United States). A pioneer of performance art, she is the founding director of the Franklin Furnace Archive. She is famous for her ground-breaking series of photographs and videos, in which she sometimes impersonates famous people. Her art often extends an invitation to viewers to question the representation of women in our society and deconstruct beauty standards.

In Mona/Marcel/Marge, the artist is posing as the Mona Lisa, albeit with a Marge Simpson-like wig. The viewer’s movements in front of the lenticular print determine the appearance and disappearance of a mustache above her mouth, a direct reference to L.H.O.O.Q., Marcel Duchamp’s infamous reimagining of Da Vinci’s painting. Creating a mash-up of these three iconic figures is Wilson’s playful and clever way to simultaneously pay homage to them and the many mischievous reinterpretations of masterpieces of the history of art.