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Inventing Infinity
1990
A striking large-format gelatin silver print by Steven Arnold depicting a nude male figure standing in a cruciform pose with elaborate body paint and headdress, set against an intricate black-and-white cosmic backdrop constructed from cut paper and found objects. The work features Arnold's muse Pandora (1942–2023) and exemplifies his tableau vivant approach, likening his photographs to Tibetan thangkas used as meditation tools. Produced at Arnold's celebrated Los Angeles studio, Zanzibar, this photograph explores themes of spirituality, mortality, and eroticism rooted in the counterculture of the 1960s San Francisco Bay Area. The work belongs to a cohesive body of photographs gifted to a major museum by the Steven Arnold Museum and Archives, Los Angeles.
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Spotted At
- Museum · Palm Springs Art Museum
Notes
Accession number: 2024.54-60. Part of a group gift including: Sea of Transition (1982), Connecting to the Infinite (1986), Inventing Infinity (1990), Creative Emanation (ca. 1990), Connecting to the Infinite (1986), Birthing in Mandripore (1985), Portrait of Kaisik Wong (1988). Arnold cited The Tibetan Book of the Dead as a powerful influence. He died from complications from AIDS. His studio was called Zanzibar. Work features his muse Pandora (1942–2023).
Spotted works by Steven Arnold
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