Artwork Page for Cosmic Jets

Details / Information for Cosmic Jets

Cosmic Jets

1983

Athena Tacha

(American, b. 1936)
Culture
America
Medium
Felt tip pen on graph rag vellum
Measurements
Sheet: 40.6 x 78.7 cm (16 x 31 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Athena Tacha 2025.210
Copyright
© Athena Tacha
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

The sculpture to which this drawing relates was proposed as a public artwork for the campuses of both the University of Alaska and the University of Florida, although it was not ultimately realized.

Description

Born in Greece, Athena Tacha studied in Paris before obtaining advanced degrees in both art history and fine art. She eventually settled in Oberlin, Ohio, where she served as both the first curator of modern art for Oberlin College’s Allen Memorial Art Museum, and later as a professor of sculpture for several decades. Around this time, she began to create site-specific environmental sculpture—the medium for which she is best known. Cosmic Jets relates to, in the artist’s words, a “proposal for a tile-faced staircase on a waterfront or urban plaza.” It translates the mosaic-influenced concept of this design into squares of saturated tones and was considered an artwork in its own right, exhibited by the artist several times in later decades.
Felt tip pen on horizontally oriented graph rag vellum features an undulating band of vibrant color. Dabs of pink, blue, green, and yellow ink adhere to the grid, creating a pixelated shape that narrows and expands across the surface. Several rectangles outlined in black overlay this central form. The surrounding ground is composed of densely packed black ink squares, forming a textured void that frames the rhythmic, colorful movement within the dark field.

Cosmic Jets

1983

Athena Tacha

(American, b. 1936)
America

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