4-1/2 Oxen
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “4-1/2 Oxen” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Kay Rosen uses words and letters as a means of examining the ways in which language structures knowledge— particularly in terms of awareness of self and place. Generally concerned with formal configurations of words and letters and with the gamesmanship involved in the deconstruction and reconstruction of language, her exceedingly clever, diagrammatic works consist of common phrases, poetic verse, and word plays based on synonyms and homonyms. These black-and-white paintings form a cornerstone of Rosen’s work from the late 1980s onward, reflecting an early and ongoing interest in themes such as systems and symmetry, the structure of individual letterforms, comparative structures of words, and humor.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Details
- Accession number
- 2007.108
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — © the artist or rights holder
![Sic [Sic] Sick, Kay Rosen, 1989](/api/img?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artic.edu%2Fiiif%2F2%2F119dc689-add5-f833-d1e1-b3c03c1b4a65%2Ffull%2F1686%2C%2F0%2Fdefault.jpg)
