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Collage of five diverse artworks from the Hammer Museum Collections side by side. From left to right: 1) Contemporary painting of two embracing figures with surreal elements. 2) Post-impressionist style painting of trees with vibrant blues and greens. 3) Black and white illustration of a face with intricate patterns. 4) Japanese woodblock print style image of a figure in a checkered robe. 5) Photograph of a couple dancing, the woman in a black dress and the man in white

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Digital Archive Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Ideology
Art Stephen Prina, The Second Sentence of Everything I Read Is You: Mourning Sex
The Second Sentence of Everything I Read Is You: Mourning Sex, by Stephen Prina, 2005–7

Stephen Prina, Artist
The Second Sentence of Everything I Read Is You: Mourning Sex , 2005–7

Medium
Mixed-media installation: acrylic and acrylic enamel on linen, acrylic on plywood, acrylic enamel on wall, 9 Boston Acoustics™ Dsi265 speakers, Alesis™ ADAT-HD24 XR digital hard-disk recorder, 5 Samson® Servo 200 power amplifiers, Monster Cable™, Furman PM-8/E II power conditioner, Duratran™ on EFRA Lichtwerbung, ETC Source 4 Jr.™ spotlight, FLOR™ carpet
Dimensions
240 x 480 in. (609.6 x 1219.2 cm)
Credit Line
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Gisela Capitain. Image courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne (photo by Simon Vogel)

All the components of this work by Stephen Prina travel in crates that are transformed into benches and situated in the middle of the installation. A recording of a song composed and performed by the artist, with lyrics consisting largely of quotations from and about the late artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres from a book edited by Julie Ault, plays through the sound system. The crates and carpet bear the stains and scuffs incurred through repeated movement in and out of storage and shipping to exhibition venues around the world. A meditation on memory and loss, the work also evokes ideas about emotion and influence, individual and collective experience, and how the perpetual interchange of expression and reception marks a definitive aspect of culture.