Matthew Barney Cremaster 5 Her Giant 1997 C-Print in Acrylic Frame

Matthew Barney, “Cremaster 5: Her Giant”, 1997 C-print in acrylic frame. Signed and dated '97, with artist's stamp on the reverse.

Edition 6/6.

“The Cremaster Cycle” (1994–2002), Matthew Barney.It is a five-part film series that explores themes such as creation, sexual differentiation, psychological identity, and mythology. To this day, it remains Matthew Barney’s most significant body of work.

The complete collection consists of five films with a total duration of nine hours, through which Barney sought to create a total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) that merges film, sculpture, performance, drawing, music, literature, and architecture into a closed symbolic system — deeply personal and mythological.

This work stands out for its symbolic complexity and elaborate scenography, where sculpture, performance, mythology, and contemporary visual art converge. The artist constructs a central androgynous figure with a sculptural presence, emerging from a monumental flower, flanked by doves and crowned with ornamental elements — all set within a richly decorated scene that allegorically evokes a ritual.

Provenance

Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York (1998)

Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art, July 21, 2007, Lot 516

Private collection, Milan