The work of Tim Rollins (1955–2017, American) and K.O.S. (Kids of Survival) is defined by student collaboration that focused on and visualized single motifs from famous works of literature. Printed in 1989 at Crown Point Press, The Temptation of St. Anthony is a series of prints that Tim Rollins and K.O.S. (Kids of Survival) printed collaboratively on pages of Gustave Flaubert’s book by the same title. Mixing text and various printmaking techniques, this work balances the negative and positive space of the text with abstract forms. Much of the work in this series resemble dead human cells that resonated deeply during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. At this time, Rollins and K.O.S. drew on collaborative actions and looked to the power of art and the way it operates in the space of social activism.
–Affinities and Outliers: Highlights from the University at Albany Fine Art Collections

The work of Tim Rollins and K.O.S. (Kids of Survival) is defined by student collaboration that focuses on and visualizes single motifs from famous works of literature. In The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Plate X (1989) they have appropriated pages of Gustave Flaubert’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony, which tells the tale of Anthony’s persisting faith against numerous and devilish seductions, by using the epic poem as canvas for printmaking techniques. In this edition, the “canvas” is obstructed by black ink leaving an abridged glimpse of the text. The inkblot that surrounds this image casts the narrative as if it were a forgotten memory. Rollins (b. 1955, Pittsfield, ME; d. 2017, New York, NY) began his career teaching art for special-education middle school students in a South Bronx public school. In 1984, he launched the Art and Knowledge Workshop, an after-school program for dedicated students, who named themselves Kids of Survival (K.O.S.). Tim Rollins and K.O.S. exhibited in the Venice Biennale, at Documenta 8, and in two Whitney Biennials, and they have works in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Tate Modern, London, England; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; and the Bronx Museum of Arts, Bronx, NY.
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