Torsos Rot, Kay Rosen, 1989
Kay RosenAmerican

Torsos Rot

1989 · Painting

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Torsos Rot” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

Art Institute of Chicago

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
2007.207

In the catalog

Sources

All works

On view at Art Institute of Chicago

Museum page