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Caja con jabones para distintas clases sociales [Box with Bars of Soap for Different Social Classes]
Caja con jabones para distintas clases sociales [Box with Bars of Soap for Different Social Classes]

Caja con jabones para distintas clases sociales [Box with Bars of Soap for Different Social Classes]

Primary (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1928–)
NationalityArgentinean, South America
Date1974
MediumArtist's wooden box with leather hinges, two bars of soap in tissue and newspaper, two photographs, and stamped print
DimensionsOverall: 2 × 10 1/4 × 3 11/16 in. (5.1 × 26.1 × 9.3 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Undetermined source, 1981.103
Rights Statement
Collection AreaLatin American Art
Object number1981.103
On View
Not on view
Label Text
Along with Luis Fernando Benedit, Alfredo Portillos was affiliated with the Centro de Arte y Comunicación [Center for Art and Communication or CAYC], a group of conceptual artists based in Buenos Aires. After being tasked with organizing an exhibition of artist’s books for CAYC, Portillos became a collector of the medium and later opened his own museum. In this piece—part book, part conceptual object—he contrasts two types of soap and the context of their use, revealing how class struggle permeates even everyday objects.
Exhibitions