{{Short description|1965 art installation by Michael Baldwin}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox artwork | title = Mirror Piece | image = Art language mirror piece conceptual art.jpg | caption = Art & Language, ''Mirror Piece'', 1965 | artist = Art & Language<br />Michael Baldwin | year = 1965 | type = Installation<br />Painting | medium = Mirror, Glass and wood panels | movement = Conceptual Art | museum = Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art | owner = Philippe Méaille }} '''Mirror Piece''' is a 1965 contemporary art installation by Michael Baldwin, a member of the British conceptual art collective Art & Language.
== Description == ''Mirror Piece'' is an installation of variable dimensions. It is composed of multiple mirrors of different sizes covered with regular or deforming glass plates, presented on wooden panels.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Reality (Dark) Frangments (Light)|date=2018|publisher=Château de Montsoreau|isbn=9782955791721|location=Montsoreau|page=21|language=fr, en}}</ref> This installation is accompanied by 13 pages of text and diagrams.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Peynot|first=Jean-Philippe|date=January 2017|title=Art & Language empêcheurs de tourner en rond|journal=Art Press|language=fr, en|page=34|issn=0245-5676}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bailey|first=Robert|url=|title=Art & Language International: Conceptual Art between Art Worlds|date=2016-05-19|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-7412-1|language=en}}</ref>
== Exhibitions == * Galerie Bruno Bischofberger,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Art & Language - Made in Zurich|first=Jill |last=Silverman van Coenegrachts |first2=Rod |last2=Mengham |first3=Philippe |last3=Méaille|date=2015|publisher=Editions Bernard Jordan|isbn=978-3-00-047269-5|location=Paris|page=86|language=fr}}</ref> Männedorf, Switzerland * Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gonçalves Cepeda|first=Rui|date=20 May 2011|title=Barcelona Gains Art & Language collection|journal=Art Newspaper|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Bosco|first=Roberta|date=2015-03-05|title=Philippe Méaille dona al Macba seis obras del colectivo Art & Language|url=https://elpais.com/ccaa/2015/03/04/catalunya/1425502846_857987.html|journal=El País|language=es|access-date=2017-08-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hoyesarte.com/sin-categoria/philippe-meaille-deposita-800-obras-de-art-a-language-en-el-macba_94806/|title=Philippe Méaille deposita 800 obras de Art & Language en el MACBA|date=29 March 2011|website=Hoyesarte.com|language=es}}</ref> * Château de MontsoreauMuseum of Contemporary Art,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.e24diari.es/texto-diario/mostrar/860749/coleccionista-retira-coleccion-macba-inestabilidad-politica-catalunya|title=Coleccionista retira su colección del MACBA por la inestabilidad política de Catalunya|website=e24diari|language=es|access-date=2019-05-16}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Montañés|first=José Ángel|date=2017-10-13|title=El Macba afirma que la seguridad de sus obras está garantizada|url=https://elpais.com/ccaa/2017/10/13/catalunya/1507895796_036791.html|journal=El País|language=es|issn=1134-6582|access-date=2019-05-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ariane James-Sarazin|date=February 2016|title=Philippe Méaille|journal=Revue aller-retour de l'artothèque d'Angers|language=fr|page=76–p.83|issn=2418-2311}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Foreword Art & Language: A Conquest|last=Stephanie Cristello|date=September 2016|publisher=Expo Chgo|location=Chicago|page=2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chateau-montsoreau.com/wordpress/fr/100-chateau-100-contemporain/la-collection/|title=La collection|website=Château de Montsoreau-Musée d'Art Contemporain|language=fr-FR|access-date=2019-05-16}}</ref> Montsoreau, France.
== Critical analysis == This installation, one of the first ones of the Art & Language collective, replaces the surface of a painting with mirrors. It allows us to discuss, among other things, the theme of representation as well as the place and role of the spectator in the work of art. The mirror, being a surface that reflects light without its own image, the artists will say of this gesture:{{Cquote|The interest in mirrors resided in the fact that the mirror produced the "perfectly transparent" image... but this does not mean that you cannot be aware of the surface of the mirror itself, however difficult that is (as Ian Burn pointed out).|Michael Baldwin<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Van Coenegrachts|first=Jill |date=December 2015|title=Art & Language Double language |journal=L'Officiel Art|language=en|issn=2262-1415}}</ref>}} thumb|left|''Mirror Piece'' installation The mirror being in the place of what should be a painting, the spectator sees himself looking at a work of art<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://thecommercialgallery.com/uploads/EHAHRLW-mirror_mirror_catalogue.pdf|title=Mirror Mirror then and now|last=Ann Stephen, Keith Broadfoot et Andrew McNamara|date=2009|publisher=Institut of modern art|isbn=978-1-875792-67-2|location=Australia|pages=86|language=en}}</ref> and the recent practice of selfies has greatly contributed to the popularity of ''Mirror Piece''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/art-language-2202/art-language-conceptual-art-mirrors-and-selfies|title=Art & Language: Conceptual art, mirrors and selfies -TateShots|last=Tate|website=Tate|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-05-16}}</ref>
Celebrating 60 years of Art & Language, in 2025 Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art in Montsoreau France presented the group exhibition ''Art & Language : The Mirror Effect''<ref>[https://www.lissongallery.com/news/art-language-the-mirror-effect-at-chateau-de-montsoreau-museum-of-contemporary-art-france] Art & Language ''The Mirror Effect'' at Château de Montsoreau – Museum of Contemporary Art, Loire Valley, France, 17 July 2025</ref> that Lara Pan, curator of the exhibition, describes as an examination of the relationships between artists and their art in light of the principles of Art & Language. The title of the exhibition refers to Baldwin's ''Mirror Piece'' (1965).
== Bibliography == * Matthew Jesse Jackson et Art & Language, ''Art & Language Reality (Dark) Fragments (Light) Philippe Méaille Collection'', Château de Montsoreau-musée d'Art contemporain, 2018 {{ISBN|978-2955791721}} * Art & Language, Carles Guerra, Matthew Jesse Jackson, Bartomeu Marí, Philippe Méaille, ''Art & Language Uncompleted. The Phillipe Méaille Collection,'' Musée d'art contemporain de Barcelone, 2014, {{ISBN|978-84-92505-52-4}}
== References == {{Reflist}}{{Portal bar|Painting|3=1960s|4=United Kingdom}} {{Art & Language}}
Category:Installation art Category:Art & Language