About the Cover Art

In Untitled #1336 (Scalapino Nu Shu), 2009-2010, an apple tree covered in black sand is populated with taxidermy pheasants and peacocks. Peacocks were important to Flannery O’Connor, who wrote about and raised them, and saw them as symbols of renewal and the “eyes” of the Catholic Church. The peacocks in Coyne’s tree are brilliant, but rather than preening they seem strangely frozen in time, anticipating. This sense of waiting is embodied in Nu Shu, a centuries-old Chinese writing technique solely for women and used to secretly express loneliness and fear. Knowing this back story gives Coyne’s peacocks something to anticipate—a story told in secret writing to an intimate friend. The title of the work references Coyne’s own friendship with the poet Leslie Scalapino.

—Denise Markonish, curator, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA

Untitled # 1336 (Scalapino Nu Shu), 2009–2010 by Petah Coyne
Apple tree, taxidermy Black Melinistic Pheasants, taxidermy Blue India Peacocks, taxidermy Black-Shouldered Peacocks, taxidermy Spaulding Peacocks, black sand from pig iron casting, Acrylex 234, black paint, cement, chicken wire fencing, wood, gravel, sisal, staging rope, cotton rope, insulated foam sealant, pipe, epoxy, threaded rod, wire, screws, jaw-to-jaw swivels
158 x 264 x 288 inches (401.3 x 670.6 x 731.5 cm)
Collection: Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
© Petah Coyne
Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Photo © Elisabeth Bernstein
Denise Markonish, curator, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art has aquired Petah Coyne’s “Untitled # 1336 (Scalapino Nu Shu)” (2009-2010) as the centerpiece of “The Big Reveal,” an exhibit of more than two dozen new acquisitions. It opens September 23, 2011. Click here to read more.

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