Rosemarie Trockel – 4 Eyes

Rosemarie Trockel's 4 Eyes (1991) is a limited edition multiple made for Texte zur Kunst: a pair of eyeglasses in a case with a printed cleaning cloth bearing the line, "They offer you spectacles they did not use." The artwork plays on "seeing" as cultural capital, pairing an ordinary aid to vision with a deliberately unhelpful twist. The glasses are fitted with mismatched lenses, so the object itself complicates the act it promises.

Published in 1991 in a limited edition of 100 plus 20 artist's proofs, 4 Eyes is labeled, hand-signed, and numbered by the artist. 4 Eyes stands as a concise yet incisive example of Trockel's conceptual artworks and multiples from the early 1990s, where language, objecthood, and critique converge in deceptively simple form.

Rosemarie Trockel (born 1952, Schwerte, Germany) is a leading figure in contemporary art, internationally recognized for her conceptually rigorous artworks across painting, print, sculpture, video, and installation. She gained prominence in the 1980s with her iconic “knitted paintings,” produced using industrial knitting machines. These textile-based artworks challenged the male-dominated art world by collapsing distinctions between fine art and craft, while critically addressing gender roles and artistic hierarchy.

By transforming wool, a material associated with domestic labor, into a vehicle for intellectual inquiry, Trockel redefined expectations of medium and authorship. Her broader body of artworks includes ceramics, drawings, found objects, and large-scale installations, all marked by a precise conceptual framework.

Printmaking plays an important role in her practice. Rosemarie Trockel’s limited edition prints, including screenprints and etchings, translate her investigations into identity, systems, and symbolism into refined, collectible artworks. Her unique artworks, prints, and multiples have been exhibited internationally, including at the Moderna Museet Malmö, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Museo Reina Sofía, the New Museum, and the Serpentine Gallery. In 1999, she became the first female artist to represent Germany at the Venice Biennale.