Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a graphite drawing by Nate Lowman. It dates from 2003 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Untitled (2003) is an installation by American artist Nate Lowman that assembles synthetic polymer paint, bumper stickers, pencil marks, printed paper, and ink transfers across a range of supports, including canvas and foamcore. The work functions as a large‑scale collage, juxtaposing black‑and‑white photographs, textual fragments, and graphic shapes to create a dense visual field that references contemporary media culture.
Subject & Meaning
The piece layers found imagery—photographs of figures in unconventional poses, a book cover, a lunar image, and a red square bearing minute text—with declarative statements such as the bold phrase “I’m not that innocent.” This combination of visual and verbal elements interrogates notions of identity, innocence, and the saturation of pop‑culture symbols in everyday life.
Technique & Style
Lowman employs a mixed‑media approach, applying synthetic polymer paint directly onto canvas, adhering printed paper and bumper stickers, and transferring ink images onto both canvas and foamcore. Pencil lines add hand‑drawn accents. The resulting assemblage resembles a cut‑and‑paste collage, merging high‑resolution prints with low‑fidelity ephemera to blur the line between fine art and commercial graphics.
History & Provenance
Created in 2003, Untitled entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, where it remains part of the institution’s holdings. The work reflects Lowman’s early career after completing a Bachelor of Science at New York University in 2001, following formative studies at the Idyllwild Arts Academy.
Context
Emerging from a background in the Las Vegas Valley and later Idyllwild, California, Lowman’s practice aligns with pop‑art traditions that appropriate mass‑media imagery. Untitled situates itself within early‑2000s dialogues about the proliferation of visual information and the artist’s interest in recontextualizing found objects as commentary on contemporary visual culture.
Artist & collection
Artist
Nate Lowman (born 1979 in Las Vegas Valley) is an American artist working in the genre of pop art.
