Menschensohn 2009

Sigmar Polke made this ambiguous window which he titled Menschensohn, which means 'son of man' in German, with panes of glass and black paint. What a clever visual trickster Polke was! At first glance, you might see faces in profile. But then, the negative space between them starts to suggest the form of vases. You see a push and pull. I bet Polke had a lot of fun with the composition of this piece – the way the faces are placed and how the light seeps into the forms, creating a dialogue between presence and absence. This piece reminds me of the Rubin vase, which can be interpreted as either a vase or two faces looking at each other. With this in mind, Polke's window might be exploring themes of perception and the instability of meaning itself. What do you see? Can you see both? It seems like Polke is reminding us that seeing isn’t always believing, and perhaps meaning isn’t always fixed.