Foamy Aftershave (L-Foamy; R-Aftershave)
William Wegman
American, born 1943
1982
Two large color instant prints that stage a grooming ritual—one shows a man's face swathed in shaving foam, the other the same face streaked with blood—to playfully perform the fragile boundary between civilized routine and mishap.
What strikes you is the identical, tightly framed face and neutral gaze—on the left a sculptural white beard of foam, on the right the same framing with subtle, realistic smears of blood that turn a banal moment into an absurd, unsettling tableau.
By using color instant photography and a performative diptych, Wegman turns an everyday action into conceptual theatre, joining late‑20th‑century photography’s interest in staged images, humor, and the construction of identity.
Medium
Color instant prints
Dimensions
Each: 28 1/2 × 22" (72.4 × 55.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of Robert and Gayle Greenhill
Accession
222.1994
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
