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Allison Katz AKgraph (Aureus) , 2021–24 Oil on canvas, 67 × 67 in. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
In her ongoing AKgraph paintings, Katz creates a likeness of her face using her own name, playfully submitting herself to self-reflection, mimicry, and abstraction. In this example, her signature forms the eyes and mouth, critically examining its role as a surrogate for individual authority and a marker of authenticity. Beneath the face, a Celtic copy of a Roman aureus (a gold coin regularly issued under Julius Caesar)— in which the copyist has misread the head of the emperor as a highly stylized horse—is visible, suggesting the mutation that accompanies the transmission of culture and ideas. —HJ
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