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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Flight Suit
Marilyn R. Pappas (American, born in 1931)
1972
Medium/Technique
Found clothing with buttons, zippers, pins, embroidered cotton and linen, yarn, furniture tassels
Dimensions
Overall: 127 × 57.2 × 16.5 cm (50 × 22 1/2 × 6 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
The John and Bette Cohen Fund for Contemporary Decorative Arts
Accession Number2021.585
ClassificationsMixed media
Pappas’s Flight Suit implies presence via absence—we wonder for whom this outfit was made and where and why they might wear it. What once was a militaristic uniform is now abundant with vibrant patchwork details, brightly colored threads, and patterned fabrics. As part of her ongoing exploration of gender and landscapes, Pappas converted a readymade object into a costume for an imaginary person, opening possibilities for new modes of being in the world. Pappas exhibited this piece at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Detroit and the Boston City Hall Gallery before placing the work in an archival drawer in 1975, where it stayed until 2020. This careful storage allowed its colors to remain as vibrant today as they were fifty years ago.
Provenance2021, sold by R & Company, New York to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 30, 2021)
CopyrightReproduced with permission.