Exquisite Corpse (head): Alien Chick from the collection of Providence College Galleries

Exquisite Corpse (head): Alien Chick, 2000

Single-color lithograph

8.5 x 11 in (21.59 x 27.94 cm)

Exquisite corpse (translated from the original French term cadavre exquis) is a method, invented by Surrealist writers, in which a collection of words by multiple authors is collectively assembled into a single essay. Each collaborator adds to the composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g., "The adjective noun adverb verb the adjective noun." as in "The green duck sweetly sang the dreadful dirge.") or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person contributed. Modern artists then adopted the strategy, collaboratively creating multi-part pictures. The Exquisite Corpse artworks on view here feature heads, torsos, and legs illustrated by artists from around the world. Each artist, and each body part by extension, showcases their unique style of artmaking and relays a different social, cultural, or political perspective. Each individual artwork shows how the idea of the body and what it can symbolize varies from person to person. As a collective artwork, the interchangeable parts make up bodies that, like our own, change and evolve to tell cross-cultural narratives.

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From Providence College Galleries

Stephen Proski

†††, c. 2021

Oil, acrylic, and sewing on canvas

40 x 50 in (101.6 x 127.0 cm)
Jazzmen Lee-Johnson

Grandma's Lament: Gijima, 2019

Silkscreen on paper

11 x 19 in (27.94 x 48.26 cm)
Jazzmen Lee-Johnson

Grandma's Lament: Siyabashaya, 2019

Silkscreen on paper

19 x 11 in (48.26 x 27.94 cm)
Sebastian Black

Composition With Registration Marks and Other Marks, 2017

Five-plate aquatint etching

31.75 x 24.5 in (80.65 x 62.23 cm)
Elizabeth Corkery

Garten Versatzstücke, 2017

Archival Inkjet Print

19 x 25 in (48.26 x 63.5 cm)
Elijah Burgher

Bot D (Pink & Green), 2016

Unique Letterpress Pressure Print

17.5 x 12 in (44.45 x 30.48 cm)
Ramiro Chaves

Nezahualcoyotl: Templo de Santiago ó Quechula, 2016-2021

Inkjet print on archival paper

16 x 16 in (40.64 x 40.64 cm)
Ramiro Chaves

Nezahualcoyotl: Templo de Santiago ó Quechula, 2016-2021

Inkjet print on archival paper

16 x 16 in (40.64 x 40.64 cm)