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Collection

An image of No object implies the existence of any other by Ian Burn

Ian Burn

(Australia, United States of America 29 Dec 1939–29 Sep 1993)

Title
No object implies the existence of any other
Year
1967
Media category
Mixed media painting
Materials used
synthetic polymer paint on wood, mirror, lettering
Dimensions

64.5 x 64.5 x 3.0cm frame

Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r. verso frame, black marker ".../ IAN BURN...1967". Signed l.r. verso frame, black marker "Ian Burn". Signed u.c. verso frame, pencil "IAN BURN/...".
Credit
Rudy Komon Memorial Fund 1990
Accession number
1317.1990
Copyright
© Reproduced with permission
Location
20th & 21st c Australian art
Further information

Ian Burn began investigating the act of looking in the mid 1960s. In this work, text across a standard framed mirror quotes from the 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume. The original quote continues, ‘if we consider these objects in themselves, and never look beyond the ideas which we form of them’.

The viewer is asked to consider this specific work of art without considering his or her accumulated knowledge and assumptions about either ‘mirrors’ or ‘works of art’ (or the person ‘in’ the mirror). The impossibility of isolating any one thing from all others is emphasised in this conceptual artwork by our reflection in the mirror and that of the space in which it hangs and other art nearby.

Bibliography (4)

Anthony Bond, Look Nov 2008, 'Landscape not always what it might seem', pg.18-20, Newtown, Nov 2008, 18 (colour illus.).

Anthony Bond, Trace, 1st Liverpool Biennale of Contemporary Art 1999, 'Trace: a historical contextualisation of the theme', pg.12-21, Liverpool, 1999, 13 (colour illus.), 14, 17.

Sue Cramer, Less is more: minimal + post-minimal art in Australia 2012, 'Part III: notes on contemporary post-minimalism', pg. 53-69, Bulleen, 2012, 68 (colour illus.), 87, 113. NOTE: the work catalogued in this publication is not the AGNSW work. It is 'Hume's mirror (No object...)' 1967 courtesy of the Ian Burn Estate.

Michael Wardell, Contemporary: Art Gallery of New South Wales Contemporary Collection, 'Ideas and actions', pg.60-107, Sydney, 2006, 68, 69 (illus.).