Juan Muñoz
Spanish, 1953–2001

This extraordinary and mysterious sculpture depicts two nearly life-size male figures facing each other, dressed in the protective gear of foundry workers. One holds a metal measuring rod, taking the other man’s measure. Both figures depict the same person. The identical heads were apparently cast from a replica of the “Green Head”, a well-known ancient Egyptian sculpture in the Berlin Egyptian Museum Collection. Juan Muñoz’s bronze casts repeat every feature of their source, including the pillar at the back of the head and the broken nose. Additionally, he includes a further reference to ancient Egypt: the hands of the figures are withered like those of mummies.

This transformation of earlier art is a common practice by Muñoz. He says that for him “time has collapsed. All history is available at once, without order and without the slightest sense of nostalgia.” His method results in the creation of the continuous transformations of possible meanings as we experience his sculpture.

Bronze, 1999
Gift of Marshall Field’s, by exchange, 2000.10
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York