Kent Fine Art company logo
Kent Fine Art
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Modern/Contemporary
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • About
Cart
0 items $
Checkout

Item added to cart

View cart & checkout
Continue shopping
Menu

Artworks

Dennis Adams, Vanity_ Make Down II, 2007

Dennis Adams Des Moines, IA, b. 1948

Vanity_ Make Down II, 2007
Fabricated aluminum, sony LCD, Digital color TV (KDL-V32XBRI), sony DVD Player (DVP-NS90V)
30 x 40 x 8 in.
76 x 102 cm
1/5
$ 60,000.00
Enquire
%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDennis%20Adams%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EVanity_%20Make%20Down%20II%3C/span%3E%2C%20%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2007%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EFabricated%20aluminum%2C%20sony%20LCD%2C%20Digital%20color%20TV%20%28KDL-V32XBRI%29%2C%20sony%20DVD%20Player%20%28DVP-NS90V%29%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E30%20x%2040%20x%208%20in.%3Cbr/%3E%0A76%20x%20102%20cm%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22edition_details%22%3E1/5%3C/div%3E
View on a Wall
A new work related to the artist’s series of make-up vanities (1997) that extend their physical presence as sites for the transformation of identity. Structural modifications of the components utilized...
Read more
A new work related to the artist’s series of make-up vanities (1997) that extend their physical presence as sites for the transformation of identity. Structural modifications of the components utilized by vanities (mirrors, lights, counter,) will juxtapose the private world of the user and their public persona. They mark the boundary of masquerade, as sites where public faces are applied and removed, often accompanied by sound mixes of desired voices and dialogues with the self. With their brightly illuminated performative arena, the make-up vanity simulates the theater itself in condensed scale. The time and space between action and reaction, performer and audience is short-circuited, compressed into a single reflected image on mirrored glass.

The video consists of a single, fixed shot that lasts thirty-four minutes: a close-up of the artist looking at himself in a mirror as he carefully removes a thick layer of make-up from his face, hair, and torso. The make-up is a drab olive color suggestive of military camouflage. Each of the pieces of paper that he uses to wipe off the make-up is printed with one of a linear sequence of ninety-six film stills.

The sequence of stills depicts a shot from Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers that shows a young Algerian woman removing her veil as she prepares to transform herself into a cosmopolitan French beauty. Once disguised, she will pass undetected through a military checkpoint and plant a bomb in the French quarter of Algiers. Released in 1965 and initially banned in France, The Battle of Algiers has long been a cinematic primer of guerilla tactics, avant-garde political action, and feminist practice. Since 9/11 the film has become an essential case-study for both Islamic terrorists and Western security forces.

VANITY: Make Down II addresses the complexity of layers of representation contained in this one cinematic fragment from The Battle of Algiers, particularly in the context of the ongoing transformations of the historical conflict between Islamic and Western cultures. Instead of presuming to unravel these meanings, Adams chooses instead to locate himself between the frames of the image in a reverse reenactment of the process of disguise.

In 2005, Dennis Adams completed the initial installation entitled MAKE DOWN structured as a series of individual “performances”. This was the third video work created by Adams related to an earlier project entitled Outtake (1999), and this project takes the infamous 1966 French film The Battle of Algiers as its inspiration.
Close full details

Exhibitions

Dennis Adams: Double Feature Kent Gallery, New York March 27 thru April 26, 2008.
Previous
|
Next
115 
of  150
Privacy Policy
Manage cookies
Copyright © 2025 Kent Fine Art
Site by Artlogic
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences
Close

Join our mailing list

Signup

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied to communicate with you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.