Forty Years (self portrait with square, 1973)

“‘Untitled (self portrait with square)’ (1973) is a portrait of the artist against a white background. The outline of a black rectangle, diagonally-oriented, begins on the background then suddenly arrives upon Liliana’s face. The line confines her right eye socket, thickening and trembling as it defines the bridge of her nose. There is an odd visual effect – a portion of Liliana’s face is entrapped in this figure, even flattened out as it integrates with the background. Her expression in the image is disarming. Her piercing gaze is aware of the viewer, but she doesn’t seem bothered or intimidated by the camera. On the contrary, her dead-pan expression seems almost neutral, intentionally transforming her into a substrate. This image has become a first point of entry into Liliana’s work recently: it graces the cover of “Liliana Porter in conversation with Inés Katzenstein,” perhaps Liliana’s most disseminated publication to date, and was featured in the critically acclaimed exhibition, “”Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985.”

—Humberto Moro, Deputy Director of Program, Dia Art Foundation

In 2013, Liliana created a new work, utilizing “Untitled (self portrait with square).” This time, instead of the quadrilateral “connecting” the background to Liliana’s face, the form connects the same woman, 40 years apart. Where once, as Moro described, Liliana was dead-pan, now she is smiling. As she has stated on numerous occasions, humor and happiness are a political act.