I am a work of art
Judit Kele
1980
I am a work of art
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Judit Kele is a Hungarian artist, performer, and filmmaker who has lived and worked in Paris since 1981. Her arrival in France was, appropriately, a performance in its own right. In 1980, Kele placed an ...
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I am a work of art
Judit Kele
1980
Budapest: Self-published
Unpaginated [20 pages]
20.8 × 14 cm

Judit Kele is a Hungarian artist, performer, and filmmaker who has lived and worked in Paris since 1981. Her arrival in France was, appropriately, a performance in its own right. In 1980, Kele placed an advertisement in the French newspaper Libération, offering herself for sale as a work of art. A French collector won the bid, and, under the surveillance of civil police officers, Kele married him in Budapest before moving to Paris. Extending her practice beyond the gallery, she made her own life an arena of experimentation.


 


This performative approach is articulated in the artist’s book I Am a Work of Art, which places eight head-and-shoulder self-portraits at its centre, presenting frontal and profile views of Kele. Unlike Salvo’s self-portrait, inserted into a sequence of portraits of Old Masters in Untitled, published by John Weber Gallery in 1973, Kele’s images occupy the book in its entirety. The photographs are preceded by two pages of self-description, composed of short sentences arranged sequentially. The work brings together self-representation, textual self-definition, and a pointedly literal presentation of the artist’s body as an artwork.


 


Kele’s engagement with the body as a site of artistic intervention dates to the late 1970s. The year before I Am a Work of Art, she presented her own body at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest as a masterpiece, replacing an artwork in the collection while being guarded by an armed policeman. Although its artistic significance was largely overlooked by the communist authorities, the performance became an emblematic image of the period.

Budapest: Self-published
Unpaginated [20 pages]
20.8 × 14 cm

Judit Kele is a Hungarian artist, performer, and filmmaker who has lived and worked in Paris since 1981. Her arrival in France was, appropriately, a performance in its own right. In 1980, Kele placed an advertisement in the French newspaper Libération, offering herself for sale as a work of art. A French collector won the bid, and, under the surveillance of civil police officers, Kele married him in Budapest before moving to Paris. Extending her practice beyond the gallery, she made her own life an arena of experimentation.

 

This performative approach is articulated in the artist’s book I Am a Work of Art, which places eight head-and-shoulder self-portraits at its centre, presenting frontal and profile views of Kele. Unlike Salvo’s self-portrait, inserted into a sequence of portraits of Old Masters in Untitled, published by John Weber Gallery in 1973, Kele’s images occupy the book in its entirety. The photographs are preceded by two pages of self-description, composed of short sentences arranged sequentially. The work brings together self-representation, textual self-definition, and a pointedly literal presentation of the artist’s body as an artwork.

 

Kele’s engagement with the body as a site of artistic intervention dates to the late 1970s. The year before I Am a Work of Art, she presented her own body at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest as a masterpiece, replacing an artwork in the collection while being guarded by an armed policeman. Although its artistic significance was largely overlooked by the communist authorities, the performance became an emblematic image of the period.

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Judit Kele is a Hungarian artist, performer, and filmmaker who has lived and worked in Paris since 1981. Her arrival in France was, appropriately, a performance in its own right. In 1980, Kele placed an advertisement in the French newspaper Libération, offering herself for sale as a work of art. A French collector won the bid, and, under the surveillance of civil police officers, Kele married him in Budapest before moving to Paris. Extending her practice beyond the gallery, she made her own life an arena of experimentation.

 

This performative approach is articulated in the artist’s book I Am a Work of Art, which places eight head-and-shoulder self-portraits at its centre, presenting frontal and profile views of Kele. Unlike Salvo’s self-portrait, inserted into a sequence of portraits of Old Masters in Untitled, published by John Weber Gallery in 1973, Kele’s images occupy the book in its entirety. The photographs are preceded by two pages of self-description, composed of short sentences arranged sequentially. The work brings together self-representation, textual self-definition, and a pointedly literal presentation of the artist’s body as an artwork.

 

Kele’s engagement with the body as a site of artistic intervention dates to the late 1970s. The year before I Am a Work of Art, she presented her own body at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest as a masterpiece, replacing an artwork in the collection while being guarded by an armed policeman. Although its artistic significance was largely overlooked by the communist authorities, the performance became an emblematic image of the period.

Budapest: Self-published
Unpaginated [20 pages]
20.8 × 14 cm

Judit Kele is a Hungarian artist, performer, and filmmaker who has lived and worked in Paris since 1981. Her arrival in France was, appropriately, a performance in its own right. In 1980, Kele placed an advertisement in the French newspaper Libération, offering herself for sale as a work of art. A French collector won the bid, and, under the surveillance of civil police officers, Kele married him in Budapest before moving to Paris. Extending her practice beyond the gallery, she made her own life an arena of experimentation.

 

This performative approach is articulated in the artist’s book I Am a Work of Art, which places eight head-and-shoulder self-portraits at its centre, presenting frontal and profile views of Kele. Unlike Salvo’s self-portrait, inserted into a sequence of portraits of Old Masters in Untitled, published by John Weber Gallery in 1973, Kele’s images occupy the book in its entirety. The photographs are preceded by two pages of self-description, composed of short sentences arranged sequentially. The work brings together self-representation, textual self-definition, and a pointedly literal presentation of the artist’s body as an artwork.

 

Kele’s engagement with the body as a site of artistic intervention dates to the late 1970s. The year before I Am a Work of Art, she presented her own body at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest as a masterpiece, replacing an artwork in the collection while being guarded by an armed policeman. Although its artistic significance was largely overlooked by the communist authorities, the performance became an emblematic image of the period.

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Judit Kele is a Hungarian artist, performer, and filmmaker who has lived and worked in Paris since 1981. Her arrival in France was, appropriately, a performance in its own right. In 1980, Kele placed an advertisement in the French newspaper Libération, offering herself for sale as a work of art. A French collector won the bid, and, under the surveillance of civil police officers, Kele married him in Budapest before moving to Paris. Extending her practice beyond the gallery, she made her own life an arena of experimentation.

 

This performative approach is articulated in the artist’s book I Am a Work of Art, which places eight head-and-shoulder self-portraits at its centre, presenting frontal and profile views of Kele. Unlike Salvo’s self-portrait, inserted into a sequence of portraits of Old Masters in Untitled, published by John Weber Gallery in 1973, Kele’s images occupy the book in its entirety. The photographs are preceded by two pages of self-description, composed of short sentences arranged sequentially. The work brings together self-representation, textual self-definition, and a pointedly literal presentation of the artist’s body as an artwork.

 

Kele’s engagement with the body as a site of artistic intervention dates to the late 1970s. The year before I Am a Work of Art, she presented her own body at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest as a masterpiece, replacing an artwork in the collection while being guarded by an armed policeman. Although its artistic significance was largely overlooked by the communist authorities, the performance became an emblematic image of the period.

MORE BOOKS