Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a watercolor drawing by Alberto Greco. It dates from 1965 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
It combines ink, watercolor, ballpoint, and felt-tip pen with cut-and-pasted paper, rejecting traditional book structure in favor of a loose, accumulative form.
Created in 1965, this unbound artist’s book by Argentine artist Alberto Greco consists of 34 folded, double-sided sheets and a found painted silk fragment bearing a stamp and label. It combines ink, watercolor, ballpoint, and felt-tip pen with cut-and-pasted paper, rejecting traditional book structure in favor of a loose, accumulative form. The work resists finish, presenting itself as a private record rather than a polished object.
Subject & Meaning
The pages weave fragments of narrative—references to a princess and a fisherman—with cultural detritus like the name 'The Beatles.' Words are underlined, circled, or crossed out, suggesting spontaneous thought rather than structured storytelling. The mix of mythic and pop imagery reflects Greco’s interest in collapsing hierarchies between high and low culture, treating daily experience as material for artistic inquiry.
Technique & Style
Greco employed a range of unrefined tools: ballpoint, felt-tip, watercolor, and ink, applied with visible haste. Stains, scribbles, and uneven handwriting reinforce the work’s immediacy. The use of found materials, including the painted silk, introduces texture and chance. The absence of composition or refinement prioritizes process over product, aligning with conceptual practices that value the act of making over aesthetic resolution.
History & Provenance
The work entered The Museum of Modern Art’s collection as part of its broader engagement with postwar experimental practices. It emerged from Greco’s *Vivo Dito* series, which treated people and objects as living art. Though not widely exhibited at the time, its inclusion in MoMA’s holdings situates it within a transnational network of artists challenging conventional art forms in the mid-1960s.
Context
In mid-1960s Latin America, artists like Greco rejected formalism in favor of ephemeral, anti-commercial practices. This book reflects a regional shift toward conceptualism, where the idea outweighed the object. Its use of everyday materials and personal notation parallels contemporaneous developments in Europe and the U.S., yet retains a distinctly local sensibility rooted in Buenos Aires’ underground art circles.
Legacy
The work exemplifies Greco’s influence on later generations who embraced the artist’s book as a site of personal and political expression. Its rawness and refusal of permanence anticipated the rise of zine culture and DIY aesthetics. Though not widely known during his lifetime, its preservation in major institutions has secured its place as a quiet but significant intervention in the history of conceptual drawing.
Artist & collection
Artist
Alberto Greco (January 15 1931 – October 12 1965) was an Argentine artist who was instrumental in the development of conceptual art in Argentina, Brazil, and Spain.
