Inkjet on belgian linen over CNC milled foam sculptures
2014, XPO Gallery, Paris, France
Wrapped terracotta neck-amphora (storage jar)
Attributed to the New York Nettos Painter
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Period: Proto-Attic
Date: second quarter of the 7th century B.C.
Culture: Greek, Attic
Medium: Terracotta
Dimensions: H. 42 3/4 in. (108.6 cm); diameter 22 in. (55.9 cm)
Classification: Vases
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1911
Accession Number: 11.210.1
Wrapped Terracotta neck-amphora (storage jar) is a sculpture that is neither an object nor an image. Valla used digital 3D capture to reproduce a 7th Century BC Greek amphora on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. To highlight the artifacts produced by computer vision the completed reproduction is broken down into its constituent parts: a flat image wrapped around a 3D volume. The resulting sculpture echoes the packing of objects for storage and shipping, transitory moments when only an object’s image is accessible. The image ends up serving as surrogate for the sculpture underneath.