Lot 36
MIEKE MARPLE(B. 1986)Dn't Ask Why, 2023
13 – 27 February 2025, 17:00 PST
Online, Los AngelesUS$12,000 - US$18,000
Ask about this lot
MIEKE MARPLE (B. 1986)
Dn't Ask Why, 2023
signed, titled, and dated (on the reverse)
acrylic and graphite on panel with augmented reality (sound, 50 seconds, loop)
46 x 36 in.
116.8 x 91.4 cm.
signed, titled, and dated (on the reverse)
acrylic and graphite on panel with augmented reality (sound, 50 seconds, loop)
46 x 36 in.
116.8 x 91.4 cm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Courtesy of the artist
Exhibited
Los Angeles, Desmond Tower, Interreality: Enter One Door, Exit Two Doors, produced by bitforms gallery and Wienholt Projects, 23 October 2023-24 March 2024
Literature
Coco Dolle, "INTERREALITY MODALITIES: A CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST MIEKE MARPLE ON BRIDGING THE DIGITAL AND TRADITIONAL WORLDS," Autre, 18 November 2023
Mieke Marple is an artist and writer living in Los Angeles. Marple has exhibited internationally, including in "Techno-Healing" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia's first institutional NFT exhibition, and "Elan Vital" at MOCA Westport. She has been written about by The New York Times, W Magazine, The Guardian, Fortune, Vice, Elle, and Autre, among other publications. Her work is in the collection of the Museum of Crypto Art, Seattle NFT Museum, and McEvoy Family Collection.
Dn't Ask Why reveals a hidden augmented reality poem when the viewer scans the QR code on the back of the work and holds their smartphone up to the image of the tiger. The AR poem is an existential rhyme inspired by the phrase from Dr. Seuss's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas ("The Grinch hated Christmas - the whole Christmas season. Now, please don't ask why; no one quite knows the reason."). The poem—which alternates between encouraging the reader to ask "Why" and to "Dn't Ask Why," and ends with a series of censored words—reflects on the artist's tendency to flip between analysis, surrender, and self-censorship. The appropriated phrase bears little resemblance to its original meaning, while maintaining Dr. Seuss's playfulness with language.
Documentation of AR can be seen at vimeo.com/884099094?