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Coup
2006
52 x 168 x 52 in. (132.08 x 426.72 x 132.08 cm)
Alison Saar (aka Allison Saar) (Los Angeles, California, 1956 - ) Primary
Initial Public Offering: New Works from SJMA’s Permanent Collection, March 1, 2014 - August 24, 2014, New Wing, First floor, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, San José Museum of Art.
So, Who Do You Think You Are?, September 25, 2011- January 15, 2012, New Wing, Second Floor, Central Skylight Gallery, San José Museum of Art.
Initial Public Offering: New Works from SJMA’s Permanent Collection (2014)
Alison Saar often derives her visually compelling art from personal and cultural narrative and folk art tradition. Influenced by feelings of motherhood, aging, and loss associated with her daughter entering into adolescence and thoughts of her eventual move to college, Saar created Coup as a way to cope with the changes they both were going through. The title, Coup, a term with roots in the French couper, meaning “to cut,” calls out the action that is about to take place. Bound by excessive baggage that keeps her immobile, the female figure seems ready to break free, yet never performs the decisive cut. While the image suggests the simultaneous desire and difficulty in getting rid of one’s past, most of the objects used were found by Saar in local dumpsters in Los Angeles. By re-imagining their formal and aesthetic uses, Saar gave them new life and meaning.
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Figurative
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Coup
Sculpture
200652 x 168 x 52 in. (132.08 x 426.72 x 132.08 cm)
Alison Saar (aka Allison Saar) (Los Angeles, California, 1956 - ) Primary
Object Type: Sculpture
Medium and Support: Wood, wire, tin and found objects
Credit Line: Gift of the Lipman Family Foundation
Accession Number: 2011.11.01
Exhibition
Our whole, unruly selves, November 19, 2021 - June 25, 2022, North, South and Central Skylight Galleries, San José Museum of Art. Initial Public Offering: New Works from SJMA’s Permanent Collection, March 1, 2014 - August 24, 2014, New Wing, First floor, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, San José Museum of Art.
So, Who Do You Think You Are?, September 25, 2011- January 15, 2012, New Wing, Second Floor, Central Skylight Gallery, San José Museum of Art.
SJMA Label Text
Initial Public Offering: New Works from SJMA’s Permanent Collection (2014)
Alison Saar often derives her visually compelling art from personal and cultural narrative and folk art tradition. Influenced by feelings of motherhood, aging, and loss associated with her daughter entering into adolescence and thoughts of her eventual move to college, Saar created Coup as a way to cope with the changes they both were going through. The title, Coup, a term with roots in the French couper, meaning “to cut,” calls out the action that is about to take place. Bound by excessive baggage that keeps her immobile, the female figure seems ready to break free, yet never performs the decisive cut. While the image suggests the simultaneous desire and difficulty in getting rid of one’s past, most of the objects used were found by Saar in local dumpsters in Los Angeles. By re-imagining their formal and aesthetic uses, Saar gave them new life and meaning.
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Dimensions
- Sculpture Dimensions: 52 x 168 x 52 in. (132.08 x 426.72 x 132.08 cm)
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