{"data":{"id":"19516","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":19516,"topgoose_id":2811,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":19516,"title":"AutoPolaroid","display_artist_text":"Lucas Samaras","display_date":"1971","accession_number":"2003.227","dimensions":"Sheet: 3 3/8 × 4 1/4 in. (8.6 × 10.8 cm)\r\nImage: 2 7/8 × 3 3/4 in. (7.3 × 9.5 cm)","medium":"Dye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid) with hand-applied ink","department":"collection","classification":"Photographs","credit_line":"Purchase, with funds from the Postwar Committee","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":"Unique","publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eLucas Samaras, \u003cem\u003eAutoPolaroid\u003c/em\u003e, 1971. Dye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid) with hand-applied ink, sheet: 3 3/8 × 4 1/4 in. (8.6 × 10.8 cm)\r\nImage: 2 7/8 × 3 3/4 in. (7.3 × 9.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Postwar Committee 2003.227\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eLike all of the works in Lucas Samaras’s \u003ci\u003eAutoPolaroid\u003c/i\u003e series of 1969-71, the figure in this theatrical image is the artist himself. Naked, crouched on all fours, and wearing an inscrutable expression, Samaras reveals to the camera what would otherwise be a private moment. A surround of candy-colored pointillist dots painted on the photographic surface both monumentalizes his body and imparts an element of whimsy to this dramatic moment of self-exposure. For Samaras, the intimate scale and experimental format of the \u003ci\u003eAutoPolaroids\u003c/i\u003e enabled a broad range of exploration and role playing; as he remarked, these works afforded him the opportunity to be \"my own critic, my own exciter, my own director, my own audience.\"\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"A shirtless person reaches forward over a colorful polka-dot background.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T15:42:15.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T11:59:33.732-05:00","images":[{"id":105128,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/19516/2003_227_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"1150","type":"artist"}]}}}}