~?j.h%

~?j.h% by Jacqueline Humphries

Jacqueline Humphries, 2018

  • Artist: Jacqueline Humphries
  • Date: 2018
  • Medium: Oil paint on canvas
  • Dimensions: support: 2548 x 2821 mm
  • Museum: Tate Modern
  • Collection record: Tate Modern website

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About this artwork

This is the "~?j.h%" by Jacqueline Humphries. The canvas is a massive field of black and red strokes that, from a distance, look like sweeping diagonal scrawls over a ground of dense horizontal lines. Walk closer and you’ll see the underlying pattern: a grid of the seven characters ~, ?, j, J, H, h and %. These weren’t random – Humphries scanned an earlier painting, converted the image into ASCII code and cut the characters into laser‑cut rubber stencils. She applied black paint through the stencil, then red, shifting the stencil each time. After that, she overlaid long, gestural brushstrokes in the same colors, adding thick white impasto that pops against the background. The result is a dialogue between mechanical, digital translation and the immediacy of hand‑made gesture, a playful exploration of how technology and bodily movement collide in contemporary art.

See it in person

~?j.h% is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.

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