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Shahryar Nashat — New York Strip Raw
Shahryar Nashat

New York Strip Raw

2018

New York Strip Raw presents a compact sculptural object that rewards close attention. Measuring just under twenty centimeters in length, the piece is rendered in synthetic polymer, epoxy, and rubber, materials whose industrial origins are put to quietly unsettling use. Nashat, known for his investigations into the body, desire, and the aesthetics of consumer culture, here conjures something that hovers between the carnal and the commodified. The title's reference to a cut of beef is not incidental. The work invites the viewer to consider how flesh, appetite, and value become entangled in the act of looking, and how sculpture can serve as a kind of preserved specimen of cultural longing. Dating to 2018, the piece sits within a period of Nashat's practice marked by a refined attention to surface and tactility, qualities that carry particular resonance within the context of the Tom of Finland Benefit Auction. That institutional framing deepens the reading of the work, aligning it with a history of queer visual culture in which the body has been simultaneously fetishized, politicized, and celebrated. At its modest scale, New York Strip Raw rewards intimacy. It is a work designed not for the commanding presence of a monumental object but for the kind of encounter that unfolds slowly and personally, making it a distinctive and thoughtful addition to any collection focused on contemporary sculpture or the intersection of body politics and material form. The work ships from Los Angeles.

Medium
Synthetic polymer, epoxy and rubber
Overall

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About this work

Shahryar Nashat, New York Strip Raw, 2018

New York Strip Raw presents a compact sculptural object that rewards close attention. Measuring just under twenty centimeters in length, the piece is rendered in synthetic polymer, epoxy, and rubber, materials whose industrial origins are put to quietly unsettling use. Nashat, known for his investigations into the body, desire, and the aesthetics of consumer culture, here conjures something that hovers between the carnal and the commodified. The title's reference to a cut of beef is not incidental. The work invites the viewer to consider how flesh, appetite, and value become entangled in the act of looking, and how sculpture can serve as a kind of preserved specimen of cultural longing. Dating to 2018, the piece sits within a period of Nashat's practice marked by a refined attention to surface and tactility, qualities that carry particular resonance within the context of the Tom of Finland Benefit Auction. That institutional framing deepens the reading of the work, aligning it with a history of queer visual culture in which the body has been simultaneously fetishized, politicized, and celebrated. At its modest scale, New York Strip Raw rewards intimacy. It is a work designed not for the commanding presence of a monumental object but for the kind of encounter that unfolds slowly and personally, making it a distinctive and thoughtful addition to any collection focused on contemporary sculpture or the intersection of body politics and material form. The work ships from Los Angeles.

Medium
Synthetic polymer, epoxy and rubber
Dimensions
overall: 19.1 x 9.5 x 4.8 cm
Year
2018
Seen at
Tom of Finland Benefit Auction

Related themes

Mohn Art Collective

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