by Agnes Denes
The Human Argument IV—Light Matrix, 1987/2012 
The Human Argument IV—Light Matrix, 1987/2012 
The Debate–One Million B.C.–One Million A.D., 1969 – Hand-carved plastic resin, electroplated plexiglass on illuminated base
”Look, these forms you see aren’t skeletons but you and I at a dinner party discussing the state of the world or the stock market. They are Hamlet and Socrates and Descartes and da Vinci. Children with imagination so eager to question, so desperate to communicate and to know the reason for this incredible journey through space. The never-ending spinning of the days following nights and nights becoming washed in sunlight, the winters and summers, the repetition and absurdity of it all, and to be born just to die, and all the while, the debate goes on to find an answer for this aberration that we are: Homo Communicatus, Homo Literatus, Homo Desperatus (or if you wish, animale, rationale, mortale.)”
– Agnes Denes, 1967-68
The World of Thorns, 1968. Electroplated plexiglass and synthetic polymer paint on light box [detail] 
From a retrospective of the work of Agnes Denes, at The Shed.
January 11th, 2020
The Humble Fabulist 