Tim Head

Ambidextrous

1974

Not on display

Artist: Tim Head born 1946
Medium: Photograph, colour, on paper
Dimensions: Image: 240 x 240 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1982
Reference: P07616

Display caption

Tim Head first came to prominence in the early 1970s with a series of ground-breaking installations and conceptual photographs. This is from a group of six photographic works which play on mirror-image illusions to create paradoxes and question how we view ‘reality’. In Ambidextrous the mirror held by a right hand reflects an identical mirror held by a left hand, provoking questions over perception and deceit. Head believed that the accessibility of photography strengthens its ability to act
as a portal for examination of society and the man-made environment.

Gallery label, September 2016

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Catalogue entry

P07616 AMBIDEXTROUS 1973

Inscribed ‘1974’ and ‘Ambidextrous’ and ‘ed.8’
Photograph, printed by Michael Dyer Associates and published by the artist and Anthony Stokes, 9 1/4×9 3/8 (24×24)
Purchased from Anthony Stokes (Grant-in-Aid) 1982

Photography for both [P07616 and P07615] was by the artist with Chris Davies; they were printed by Michael Dyer Associates and mounted by the artist. Both are from a group of six black and white photographic works made in 1973–4 in which plays upon mirror-image illusions, paradoxes and reversals are used to test ‘reality’.

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1980-82: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1984