Ikon Ikon Polly Apfelbaum Tea Towel

Edition of 50 Digitally signed label 16 x 23 cm

This limited edition tea towel accompanied the 2018 exhibition Polly Apfelbaum: Waiting for the UFOs (a space set between a landscape and a bunch of flowers).

The exhibition title comes from the 1970s song  Waiting for the UFOs  by British singer-songwriter Graham Parker, recalling the vast empty spaces of the American landscape and the characters who anxiously anticipate extra-terrestrial visits. This is combined with surrealist René Magritte’s definition of a garden as “a space set between a landscape and a bunch of flowers” and makes reference to his extraordinary landscape painting  The Plagiarism  (1940). The idea of appropriation is explored through Apfelbaum’s use of allusion and quotation, blurring the lines drawn between popular culture, or craft, and high art.