What You Can’t See

2007-09

Cut grid paper

94 x 70 cm each

What You Can’t See is a series of Jesus’ loincloths, isolated from Italian Renaissance paintings, and reproduced in life-size by delicately cutting sheets of grid paper. In their transformation from two to three dimensions, the cut loincloths no longer conceal, enticing an examination of that which is covered, hidden, or simply not known – specifically regarding the separation of sexuality from divinity within Christianity. The series includes loincloths from paintings by the following artists: Cimabue (c.1288), Giotto (c.1305), Duccio (c.1307), Cavallini (1308), Masolino da Panicale (c.1435), Masaccio (1426), Fra Angelico (c.1440), Della Francesca (c.1450), Bellini (c.1468), Perugino (c.1483), Luini (c.1530), Tintoretto (1565), and Carracci (1583). This succession of images positions the aesthetic functioning of icons to be examined in relation to influence and transformation.
What You Can’t See (installation view in Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City)
What You Can't See (installation view in Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, 2009)
What You Can’t See (Della Francesca)
What You Can't See (Della Francesca) 2007-09 Cut grid paper 37 x 27.5 inches / 94 x 70 cm
What You Can’t See (Della Francesca detail)
What You Can't See (Della Francesca detail) 2007-09 Cut grid paper 37 x 27.5 inches / 94 x 70 cm
What You Can’t See (Masolino da Panicale)
What You Can't See (Masolino da Panicale) 2007-09 Cut grid paper 37 x 27.5 inches / 94 x 70 cm
What You Can’t See (Masolino detail)
What You Can't See (Masolino detail) 2007-09 Cut grid paper 37 x 27.5 inches / 94 x 70 cm
What You Can’t See (Giotto)
What You Can't See (Giotto) 2007-09 Cut grid paper 37 x 27.5 inches / 94 x 70 cm
What You Can’t See (Giotto detail)
What You Can't See (Giotto detail) 2007-09 Cut grid paper 37 x 27.5 inches / 94 x 70 cm
What You Can’t See (Duccio)
What You Can't See (Duccio) 2007-09 Cut grid paper 37 x 27.5 inches / 94 x 70 cm
What You Can’t See (Duccio detail)
What You Can't See (Duccio detail) 2007-09 Cut grid paper 37 x 27.5 inches / 94 x 70 cm
What You Can’t See (installation in Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City)
What You Can't See (installation in Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City) 2009
Copyright Robert Waters and collaborators 2025.
Copyright Robert Waters and collaborators 2025.