Baby Blanket1996Site: 44 x 33 "
overall with hanging rod: 48 x 39 3/4 " (121.9 x 101 cm)Aluminum-wrapped condoms with embroidery threadGift of the artist1998.3.101538352403Drunell LevinsonTextilesCopyright for this work is under review.New YorkNew YorkUnited StatesNew YorkTextilesThree Dimensional WorksNew York“I began using condoms in my quilts because quilts are seen as feminine objects, and I was seeking a method whereby I might degender quilts. I selected the Gold Coin brand of condoms because of the shape and color,” says the artist Drunell Levinson about her textile, Baby Blanket. Interested in updating the art of quiltmaking, Levinson uses idiosyncratic materials for her artworks. She has other motives as well: In this case she wanted to honor the technique in quiltmaking of using three layers (a packaged condom does this). The artist also wanted to explore unusual material in response to the then-current dialogue about material in contemporary art, made especially vibrant with the exhibition “Sensation” presented by the Brooklyn Museum of Art, which included a work using elephant dung by the British artist Chris Ofili.
By the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first, condoms became a mainstay in contemporary sexual practices, not only as a birth control device, but also used due to the rise of aids. This quilt is loaded with the symbolism of the cycle of life (birth, life, death) that condoms represent to us today.Drunell Levinson was initially drawn to quiltmaking because it offered a more tangible and lasting expression of creativity than her previous expression of acting, which was ephemeral. From the beginning her work has been conceptual, and the artist is further drawn to the paradox of using unorthodox materials in this most traditional of female hand arts. Levinson first used encased condoms in her quilts to subvert the gender-specific perception of the art. She identified aluminum-wrapped condoms as a specifically masculine material that responded to the definition of a quilt as a sandwich with three layers and that could be pierced with a needle and thread. She selected this particular brand, Gold Coin, for Baby Blanket because of the shape and shiny colors, and because they are not immediately identifiable as condoms, with their implication of sexual activity. The ironic title adds to the dialogue instigated about the nature of quilts in a contemporary context.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Baby Blanket," exhibition label for Ooh, Shiny!. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgTEXTILEQUILT19961996 1998 3 1 “I began using condoms in my quilts because quilts are seen as feminine objects, and I was seeking a method whereby I might degender quilts. I selected the Gold Coin brand of condoms because of the shape and color,” says the artist Drunell Levinson about her textile, Baby Blanket. Interested in updating the art of quiltmaking, Levinson uses idiosyncratic materials for her artworks. She has other motives as well: In this case she wanted to honor the technique in quiltmaking of using three layers (a packaged condom does this). The artist also wanted to explore unusual material in response to the then-current dialogue about material in contemporary art, made especially vibrant with the exhibition “Sensation” presented by the Brooklyn Museum of Art, which included a work using elephant dung by the British artist Chris Ofili.
By the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first, condoms became a mainstay in contemporary sexual practices, not only as a birth control device, but also used due to the rise of aids. This quilt is loaded with the symbolism of the cycle of life (birth, life, death) that condoms represent to us today.Drunell Levinson was initially drawn to quiltmaking because it offered a more tangible and lasting expression of creativity than her previous expression of acting, which was ephemeral. From the beginning her work has been conceptual, and the artist is further drawn to the paradox of using unorthodox materials in this most traditional of female hand arts. Levinson first used encased condoms in her quilts to subvert the gender-specific perception of the art. She identified aluminum-wrapped condoms as a specifically masculine material that responded to the definition of a quilt as a sandwich with three layers and that could be pierced with a needle and thread. She selected this particular brand, Gold Coin, for Baby Blanket because of the shape and shiny colors, and because they are not immediately identifiable as condoms, with their implication of sexual activity. The ironic title adds to the dialogue instigated about the nature of quilts in a contemporary context.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Baby Blanket," exhibition label for Ooh, Shiny!. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgTEXTILEQUILT