On View
Not on viewObject number1974/5.1
Cosmic Sunbeam
Artist
Stephen Hansen
(American, 1950-)
Date1974
Mediumetching
Dimensionsimage: 11 7/16 × 10 15/16 in. (29.1 × 27.8 cm)
sheet: 21 7/8 × 15 1/8 in. (55.6 × 38.4 cm)
mat: 24 × 18 in. (61 × 45.7 cm)
sheet: 21 7/8 × 15 1/8 in. (55.6 × 38.4 cm)
mat: 24 × 18 in. (61 × 45.7 cm)
Credit LineDirector's Fund
Exhibition History"Humor & Satire: Prints, Drawings & Paintings from the Permanent Collection," KIA Long Gallery (Feb. 5 - Apr. 2007).
"Surrealish: The Absurd and Unexpected," KIA Galleries 2 & 5 (June 4 - September 11, 2022)
Label Text"A common thread in many Surreal works is the use of pictorial puns or clever wordplay. Surrealists used these techniques to challenge conventions, order, and the reasoning of society. Stephen Hansen’s whimsical work continues this popular Surrealist-inspired tradition of wordplay. Hansen’s Cosmic Sunbeam, from 1974, depicts a Sunbeam© brand clothing iron set high in the atmosphere as if it were a spacecraft. Perhaps the artist is fusing the popular brand with the politics of “love and peace” that were championed among the nation’s youths during that era." [from the exhibition, Surrealish: The Absurd and Unexpected, 2022]
