Untitled (Reaper Drone)

Artist Trevor Paglen (American, born 1974)

Date2013

MediumChromogenic print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 48 × 60 inches (121.92 × 152.4 cm)
Framed: 49 1/4 × 61 1/4 × 2 inches (125.1 × 155.58 × 5.08 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2015.43.8

SignedSigned on gallery label, on frame backer, lower right, in black pen.

Inscribednone

Markingsnone

Edition/State/Proofed. 5/5 + 2 A.P.s

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of sky with slight gradition of color from white to a warm yellow along the bottom. In the lower right corner flies a tiny drone.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Surveillance. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. September 16, 2016 – January 29, 2017, no cat.

Gallery Label

Look for a tiny black speck in the lower righthand corner of this golden, cloud-filled sky. This dot is actually a reaper drone, an unmanned aircraft operated remotely from a military base in Nevada. What appears as a beautiful photograph suddenly assumes a more sinister feel. Turning his camera to look at what is looking at us, Paglen says, “It’s creepy because you’ll…see [the drone] turn and come straight at you. You can almost see a camera looking at you.”

Provenance

Purchased from Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco, CA by the Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2015;
Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2015.

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