Untitled (Check 2)

Sherrie Levine first gained widespread critical recognition in the early 1980s for her photographic re-creations of famous works of art, typically by men, through which she questioned the ideals of high modernism and confronted issues of authorship, repetition, and authenticity. Although known for these works, which redefined the role of appropriation strategies, Levine’s concerns are never specific to any media; sculpture, drawing, and painting have always been a part of her practice. Later in her career, she began to make works inspired by the precedent of a generic type, rather than a particular work of art. Her series of stripe paintings, for example, refers to both Russian Suprematist painting of the first part of the 20th century and American Minimal painting of the 1960s. Untitled (Check 2) is from a series of game-board motifs, marking the first time Levine drew source material from outside the art-historical realm.