AD MR, 2024
oil on linen and aluminium special frame
32 x 32 x 3.5 cm

The painting is a reading of a drapery study, made in 1508, by Albercht Dürer (1471 – 1528) for the altarpiece commissioned by Jakob Heller (known as the Heller Altar) in 1507 and completed in 1509. The painting was eventually removed from the church in 1614 and later destroyed in a fire in Munich in 1729. The image lives on as an early 17th century copy now held by the Frankfurt Historical Museum.

This image within Ilê Sartuzi’s research presents an uncertainty around what is really under the covers. Traditionally, drapery studies investigate how different fabrics conforms to the body. Here, it is difficult to establish where the body is. This absence, ghostly presence, is unidentifiable. In the custom designed aluminium frame created by the artist, it reads the date of the original study, and the second number refers to the date when Man Ray created “the enigma of Isadore Ducasse” (thus, the title is also referring to the initials of Albercht Dürer and Man Ray).