Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a graphite drawing by Kim Jones. It dates from 1998 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1998, this pencil drawing by Kim Jones is part of The Museum of Modern Art’s collection. Executed on paper, it presents a vast urban landscape subtly shaped into the form of a human skull. The work’s scale and precision invite close inspection, transforming architectural elements into anatomical features without overt symbolism.
Subject & Meaning
The empty sockets, positioned at the center, suggest a gaze directed outward, blurring the boundary between urban infrastructure and biological form.
The city’s street grid and building masses are arranged to resemble a skull, with roads tracing the jawline, teeth, and eye sockets. The empty sockets, positioned at the center, suggest a gaze directed outward, blurring the boundary between urban infrastructure and biological form. The image evokes a sense of the city as a living, breathing entity, though without explicit narrative or moral judgment.
Technique & Style
Fine, controlled pencil lines construct the entire composition with meticulous detail. Light cross-hatching builds subtle tonal variation, suggesting depth and volume without heavy shading. The absence of ink or color emphasizes the drawing’s structural clarity, resembling a topographic map reimagined through a surreal, biological lens.
History & Provenance
The work was completed in 1998 and entered The Museum of Modern Art’s collection shortly thereafter. It is one of several drawings by Jones that explore the relationship between urban planning and organic forms. No public record of prior ownership or exhibition history exists beyond its acquisition by MoMA.
Context
Jones’s work from this period often investigates how human-made environments mimic or distort natural structures. This drawing aligns with late 1990s artistic inquiries into urban psychology and the anthropomorphization of architecture, though it avoids overt political or environmental commentary.
Legacy
The drawing remains a quiet but persistent example of conceptual cartography in contemporary drawing. It has influenced later artists working with urban forms and biological metaphors, though it has not been widely reproduced or exhibited outside MoMA’s collection.
Artist & collection
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