Mom and Dad

Janine Antoni’s work explores the concept of identity through a myriad of tools and mediums — she has painted with her hair and sculpted blocks of chocolate with her teeth — as she methodologically searches for herself hidden beneath the layers. Through her use of intimate, everyday materials and experiences, the prolific artist blurs the distinctions between performance, sculpture, and conceptual art. Mom and Dad features three photographs of Antoni’s parents in which they are made-up to look like each other. If children look like their parents, then Antoni finds a blended and complicated look at herself in this fabricated family portrait. The work is an exploration of gender roles and a poignant statement on the parental unit as a merging of perceived personalities into a single entity.