Why Don't You Come Up and See Mine Sometime?
1977
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
photo-etching in black on Rives BFK wove paper
Dimensions
image (irregular): 35.6 x 97.8 cm (14 x 38 1/2 in.) sheet: 76.2 x 106.4 cm (30 x 41 7/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Kathan Brown
Accession Number
1998.40.3
Art Historical Context
In 1977, provocative conceptual artist Vito Acconci createdWhy Don't You Come Up See Mine Sometime?*, a photo-etching playfully twists Mae West's iconic 1930s flirtation line—"Why don't you come up and see me?"—into something more intimate and confrontational. Acconci a key figure in 1970s performance and body art, often blurred boundaries between artist, viewer, and personal space through language and invitation, challenging social norms in an era of feminist critique and postmodern experimentation. This black-and-white photo-etching on luxurious Rives BFK wove paper measures an irregular im...
About the Artist
Vito Acconci
Vito Hannibal Acconci was born on January 24, 1940, in the Bronx, New York, to Italian immigrant parents as their only son, named after his ailing grandfather. Raised in a supportive household that encouraged artistic pursuits, he attended Roman Catholic schools, including Regis High School, where classrooms lacked female students until graduate school. Acconci earned a BA in literature from the C...