Three Inches (Black) No. 2

Artist Douglas Gordon British, born 1966

Date1997

MediumColor photograph

Dimensions32 3/4 x 49 1/4 in. (83.2 x 125.1 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LineGift of Dr. Ramiro E. del Amo and Dr. Miguel Tamayo in honor of Lawrence J. Wheeler

Object number2015.11

On View

Not on view

Label TextDouglas Gordon’s photograph of a man’s hand depicts an index finger that has been tattooed solid black from the tip of the finger to three inches down its length. According to stories the artist heard while growing up, knives longer than three inches were banned by the police in his Glasgow neighborhood because stabbing someone with a knife any longer could likely penetrate a vital organ. More poetically, three inches is also the average distance from the surface of one’s body to one’s heart. At first glance, one assumes that the unidentified man’s finger has been dipped in ink or paint, but when one realizes the permanency of the black as a tattoo, it provokes a startled second look, especially next to the more temporary elements on view, such as his wedding ring and the band of white skin left on his wrist by a watch.
[L. Dougherty, 2015]
ProvenanceCreated Germany, 1997; collection of the artist; [Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York]; Dr. Ramiro E Del Amo, Miami, 2010; given to NCMA, 2015.

Published ReferencesDouglas Gordon (Cambridge, MA and Los Angeles, CA: MIT Press and Museum of Contemporary Art, 2002).
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Director’s Cut: Recent Photography Gifts to the NCMA,” April 4–September 13, 2015.
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