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Kathryn Andrews — SPIDER-MAN FOR PRESIDENT aka Historical Campaign Poster Painting No.5
Kathryn Andrews

SPIDER-MAN FOR PRESIDENT aka Historical Campaign Poster Painting No.5

2015

Presented at the Nasher Sculpture Center, this large-scale work by Kathryn Andrews layers aluminum, ink, paint, plexiglas, and a certified film costume into a single arresting object that sits at the intersection of sculpture, painting, and cultural critique. At nearly two and a half meters tall, the piece commands physical presence while its subject, a campaign poster nominating Spider-Man for the American presidency, suspends the viewer between sincerity and absurdity. Andrews treats the visual language of democratic pageantry with both affection and skepticism, borrowing the bold graphic conventions of electoral graphics and redirecting them toward a fictional figure whose moral authority exists only within manufactured mythology. The inclusion of a certified film costume is central to the work's conceptual weight. Andrews is known for incorporating objects that carry legally verified identities, and here that certification transforms a prop into something closer to a relic, an artifact authenticated by the entertainment industry's own bureaucratic systems. This collision of Hollywood provenance and political iconography raises pointed questions about how societies construct heroism, legitimacy, and desire. The poster format suggests collective aspiration while the costume confirms the whole enterprise as performance, a tension Andrews holds open rather than resolves. Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, this signed work represents Andrews at a moment of mature formal invention and sharpened critical focus. Collectors drawn to work that engages pop culture not as celebration but as material for sustained examination will find this piece both intellectually rigorous and visually compelling.

Medium
Aluminum, ink, paint, plexiglas, certified film costume
Overall
Signed
Yes
Location
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX

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About this work

Kathryn Andrews, SPIDER-MAN FOR PRESIDENT aka Historical Campaign Poster Painting No.5, 2015

Presented at the Nasher Sculpture Center, this large-scale work by Kathryn Andrews layers aluminum, ink, paint, plexiglas, and a certified film costume into a single arresting object that sits at the intersection of sculpture, painting, and cultural critique. At nearly two and a half meters tall, the piece commands physical presence while its subject, a campaign poster nominating Spider-Man for the American presidency, suspends the viewer between sincerity and absurdity. Andrews treats the visual language of democratic pageantry with both affection and skepticism, borrowing the bold graphic conventions of electoral graphics and redirecting them toward a fictional figure whose moral authority exists only within manufactured mythology. The inclusion of a certified film costume is central to the work's conceptual weight. Andrews is known for incorporating objects that carry legally verified identities, and here that certification transforms a prop into something closer to a relic, an artifact authenticated by the entertainment industry's own bureaucratic systems. This collision of Hollywood provenance and political iconography raises pointed questions about how societies construct heroism, legitimacy, and desire. The poster format suggests collective aspiration while the costume confirms the whole enterprise as performance, a tension Andrews holds open rather than resolves. Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, this signed work represents Andrews at a moment of mature formal invention and sharpened critical focus. Collectors drawn to work that engages pop culture not as celebration but as material for sustained examination will find this piece both intellectually rigorous and visually compelling.

Medium
Aluminum, ink, paint, plexiglas, certified film costume
Dimensions
overall: 243.8 x 274.3 x 9.5 cm
Year
2015
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, United States

Related themes

Mohn Art Collective

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