{"data":{"id":"12158","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":12158,"topgoose_id":476,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":12158,"title":"Mortar and Pestle","display_artist_text":"Janine Antoni","display_date":"1999","accession_number":"99.53","dimensions":"Overall: 47 15/16 × 47 15/16 × 1 5/8 in. (121.8 × 121.8 × 4.1 cm)","medium":"Chromogenic print","department":"collection","classification":"Photographs","credit_line":"Purchase, with funds from Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo and The Dorothea L. Leonhardt Fund at The Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":"Ed. 10","publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eJanine Antoni, \u003cem\u003eMortar and Pestle\u003c/em\u003e, 1999. Chromogenic print, overall: 47 15/16 × 47 15/16 × 1 5/8 in. (121.8 × 121.8 × 4.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo and The Dorothea L. Leonhardt Fund at The Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc. 99.53. © 1999 Janine Antoni\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eJanine Antoni’s \u003ci\u003eMortar and Pestle\u003c/i\u003e is a confrontational work in which the artist wanted to capture the sense of something “a little closer than intimate.” It is difficult to look casually at the close-up photograph of Antoni’s tongue (the pestle) being thrust into her husband’s open eye (the mortar)—an effect that is amplified by the image’s size. Indeed, Antoni enlarged the photograph to a scale of 4 by 4 feet, which exaggerates the minute details of skin, hair, and orifices. With its unflinching view of a close physical encounter, \u003ci\u003eMortar and Pestle\u003c/i\u003e probes the nature of relationships. Normally, the human eye instinctively blinks shut to ward off foreign objects, to protect sensitive tissue from harm. The open eye, then, marks a repudiation of such defense mechanisms; it also serves a metaphorical function, signaling a willingness to surrender one’s vulnerability to another. Though \u003ci\u003eMortar and Pestle\u003c/i\u003e may initially provoke an uneasy response, it ultimately appears to be a celebration of trust and intimacy. \u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"A person pressing their tongue against another person's closed eye and eyelashes.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T15:28:28.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T11:59:16.750-05:00","images":[{"id":102907,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/12158/99_53_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"4238","type":"artist"}]}}}}