2000–02 valentine: the inventory

Artefacts and video of valentine archive contents.

“After her overwhelming experience of the original painting, Ross quickly noticed how ubiquitous the image of the Sistine Madonna had become, especially because the owners of the copyright of the image have exploited it commercially […] One detail of the painting showing two cherubs resting on their elbows at the bottom edge of the picture has been so successfully promoted that Ross and her friends have tracked down innumerable instances of its use in every kind of context, especially in packaging and decoration. This misrepresentation and degradation of the original painting causes the artist to invoke the ideas of Walter Benjamin—in particular, his essay on ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.’”

Clive Phillpot, Art Monthly, June 2001 England & Co Gallery, London, 2014