Liliana Porter (born 1941 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is known globally for her expansive conceptual practice across media. Porter’s recent photographs, videos, installations, and public art projects depict whimsical yet philosophical scenes that feature miniature objects found by chance at flea markets and airports. Initially trained as a printmaker, Porter cofounded the New York Graphic Workshop, an influential collective of Latin American artists who collaborated on experimental prints throughout the 1960s in New York, where she has been based since 1964. Porter’s role in the workshop cemented her reputation as an early champion of conceptual art and her influence on the history of contemporary art. 

Reflecting Porter’s long history of experimentation and conceptual play, Man Drawing is a signature work from her series Men Drawing (2003–ongoing), which comprises figurines of men dressed for artistic labor sitting or standing on pedestals, and facing wall drawings of variable scale. In this work, the artist has positioned a one-inch-tall figure in painter’s overalls atop a wall-mounted, white pedestal. He faces the wall with his left hand raised, appearing ready to paint or draw. What happens next varies by installation as the artist’s only written instruction is that a wall-based drawing accompanies the piece. While one iteration of the work might result in an impossibly large drawing across the wall, another could feature a miniature drawing, mimicking the scale of the figure. Treated as characters, these playthings begin to take on an inner life and generate complex questions about artistic labor and gender roles.