Cell 5
1995
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View on museum website →Medium
graphite over photocopy on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 12.7 x 18.1 cm (5 x 7 1/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection
Accession Number
2007.6.218
Art Historical Context
Peter Halley's *Cell 5* (1995) is a drawing that exemplifies the artist's signature exploration of geometric forms and urban isolation. Rendered in graphite over photocopy on wove paper, measuring just 12.7 x 18.1 cm, it captures one of Halley's recurring "cell" motifs—rigid, abstracted enclosures evoking prisons or digital pixels. Halley, a key figure in 1980s Neo-Geo (Neo-Geometric Conceptualism), used such motifs to critique the confining structures of modern life, from corporate grids to screens, blending Minimalism's precision with Pop Art's vibrancy. The medium is particularly intriguin...