Matthew Barney

a diptych of chromogenic prints, each in an acrylic artist's frame, the left panel signed in ink and with the photographer's crest engraved, each with a Barbara Gladstone Gallery label, with typed titled, date, and edition number, on the reverse, 2002, no. one in an edition of 3 (2) 

Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, 2002

Nancy Spector, Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle (New York, 2003), p. 255

Matthew Barney, Cremaster 3 (New York, 2002), unpaginated

This diptych of chromogenic prints is in generally excellent condition. The colors remain vibrant and saturated with no apparent fading. Upon close inspection the following are visible: Left panel: deposits of original retouching on the right door and at the upper edge; Right panel: scattered minor soiling and a scuff at the upper right corner. Upon very close inspection, features of the negative are visible. In the left panel, there are a few small areas that appear to be retouching in the negative. On both panels, red linear marks are visible when the prints are examined very closely in bright light; these also appear to be scratches on the print that were then laminated as there is no disruption to the surface. None of the aforementioned affect the overall fine appearance of the prints.
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Cremaster 3 is the culmination of Matthew Barney’s epic five-part Cremaster cycle. The series consists of five feature-length films intentionally created out of order – Barney made Cremaster 4 first (1994) and Cremaster 3 last (2002) – thereby forming an unconventional and non-linear narrative consisting not only of the films but also of related photographs, sculptures, drawings, and books.

This ambitious eight-year project draws its name from the male cremaster muscle, by which the testicles are raised and lowered in response to external stimuli such as temperature or fear. This anatomical reference is the basis for several themes in Barney’s Cremaster cycle, including physiological and mental aspects of the human body and ascending/descending. 

Filmed in various locations including the Guggenheim Museum and the Chrysler Building, Cremaster 3 is set in part in the fantastical, art-deco 1930s.  Through this diptych we are introduced to two characters from Cremaster 3: at left the Chrysler Building’s Cloud Club Maître D’, played by singer Paul Brady, and at right The Entered Apprentice, played by Barney himself.  All five Cremaster films are in the collection of The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.