Chrissy's Digital Sketchbook: Edward Kienholz-Artist Inspiration

(Sollie, 1979-80, front outer entrance)

(State Hostpital, exterior, 1966, mixed media)

Edward Kienholz

(Portrait of Kienholz, 1958)

Kienholz is an American sculpture and instillation artist, born in Fairfield, Washington on October 23, 1927. His work, encompasses themes of modern life, abstract expressionism, modernism, religion, and primarily, the everyday life around him, while forcing the viewer to question their own moral standards. During most of his career he worked alongside his wife, Nancy Reddin Kienholz who helped him construct most of his art pieces. Although he died on June 10, 1994, Kienholz’s work still stands strong today.
A lot of Edward Kienholz work focuses on America’s social climate, with instillations made out of pieces of materials and found objects that hes found in alleyways and junk yards. His first instillation work was actually a piece in 1961 entitled “Edward Kienholz: 11+11 Tableaux” which was actually a series of works that included “Roxys” (1961-2), “The illegal Operation” (1962), and a piece that I particularly like entitled “While Visions of Sugar Plums Danced In Their Heads,” (1964.) I really like this piece because it’s really about a sad, dysfunctional couple, a man and woman, who are situated in a very disarrayed bedroom. The sculpture is situated in a messy bedroom with huge sugar plums situated as their heads, showing the vast amount of dejection in their state. When the viewer looks through the two small peepholes situated in their disgusting heads, they see the “sex fantasies of the man and women as miniature tableaux peopled with nude Ken and Barbie dolls” (Kienholz Retrospective) There is also a section of the work over a bureau that holds an image of the male and female models, but they appear as reflections from inside the room. Although this is some of Kienholz earlier work, one of my favorite pieces that he has done is entitled “Sollie 17,” (1979-80) which focuses on the themes of inmate confinement. In this particular piece Kienholz takes the confinement space of a small, anonymous hotel room and places an old man in his “urban cave” (p. 184, Kienholz Retrospective.) The same figure of the old man is seen in three different stages of movement around the room, the first which shows the man with his hands down his underwear reading A Handful of Men by Robert Wilder, the next of the man sitting on the edge of his bed, head facing down, completely isolated by his loneliness, and last, a view of the man looking out of the bedroom window at the vast city scape that holds the life he longs to hold. Time is a very important part of this piece as well, showing every piece as it’s almost melted or weighed down. The piece ultimately shows the old mans fantasy to escape the physical confines of his life, of old age and loneliness. Also, the repetitive action of the three figures shows the repetition of the mans everyday activities, and the lonliness that surrounds them. The outside of the exhibit shows the outer wall and frame of the room, with only a small section visible to the actual viewer. The viewer has to look through a small opening in the doorway that is blocked by clear plexi-glass.

(Sollie, 1979, mixed media, notepad detail)

Notes and numbers line the walls alongside an old chair and telephone, as well as an exit sign and fallout shelter sign. What I enjoy about Kienholz work is that he’s literally taken another space from one area to the next. Taking this older hotel room and re-constructing it to look as if it’s been taken up and literally moved to the museum gallery and combining it with actual physical items that may have been in this hotel, Kienholz is able to establish an emotional connection between the viewer and the old man inside the hotel room. The viewer feels bad about the old man, knowing that he has once lived inside these walls but really didn’t “live” at all. The stark and lonely atmosphere that is created also allows for the viewers to enjoy a sensory experience that may push them to learn more about this specific hotel or possibly the man himself. Although it’s all a re-creation out of Kienholz and his wife’s minds, the instillation really reminds me of what Tina and me wanted to accomplish with our instillation piece and re-creation of an abandoned home inside of the college building. We wanted to establish a sense of awareness that abandoned and homeless states of living are occurring in our area, and that these specific areas exist all over southern Maryland. I see a lot of connection between our work and Kienholz work with the idea that we want to stand up for a social change, specifically about the homeless community and what it may feel like to be in their shoes. I really felt like I was in the old mans position when I stepped into the small opening of his room in Kienholz instillation. With each part of the figures head constructed out of an actual framed black and white photo, attached to the paper mache body, I really felt as though I had stepped into the old mans life, and I felt bad for him. This is what I think Tina and me would like to accomplish with our specific instillation as well, with a reconstruction of a full abandoned home we can take viewers who normally wouldn’t step into this kind of space and almost force them with the reality of it’s establishment. A quote from beatmuseum.org states exactly how Kienholz forces his audience to step into realities that they wouldn’t normally step into, which forces them to question their own morals about social change. “Cecile Whiting, UCLA associate professor of art history, touched on one aspect of the Kienholz's work that makes it uncomfortable for the audience. "Voyeurism is a theme that runs throughout the Kienholzes' work." The audience is put into the position of "peering in on scenes that you would otherwise not have access to, whether its Back Seat Dodge or the State Hospital. . . While you're a voyeur you're also implicated in the piece.” "Placing the audience into that role was, Nancy said, "very intentional."”
Other works of interest:
“The state Hospital”