This document provides an overview of the emergence of junk sculpture and assemblage art in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Younger artists who were dissatisfied with Abstract Expressionism's detachment from reality began incorporating everyday, mass-produced materials into their works as a way to make art more grounded. Artists like John Chamberlain and Richard Stankiewicz pioneered this approach by sculpting crushed automobile parts and other found objects. Their works challenged formalist ideas about color and materials in art. Assemblage and junk sculpture became widespread enough that the Museum of Modern Art held an exhibition on the subject in 1961.

1. Making
it
Real:
Junk
Sculpture
and
Assemblage
Art
109A:
Contemporary
Art
Westchester
Community
College
Fall
2012
Dr.
Melissa
Hall

2. The
New
Academy
Abstract
Expressionism
becomes
“mainstream”
in
1950s
“Abstract
Expressionism
was,
and
is,
a
certain
style
of
art,
and
like
other
styles
of
art,
having
had
its
ups,
it
had
its
downs.
Having
produced
art
of
major
importance,
it
turned
into
a
school,
then
into
a
manner,
and
finally
into
a
set
of
mannerisms.
Its
leaders
aQracted
imitators,
many
of
them,
and
then
some
of
these
leaders
took
to
imitaRng
themselves.
Painterly
AbstracRon
became
a
fashion
.
.
.
“
Clement
Greenberg,
Post
Painterly
AbstracRon,
1964
Cecil
Beaton,
The
So'
Look,
photograph
of
a
model
posing
in
front
of
a
Jackson
Pollock
painRng
at
BeQy
Parsons
Gallery,
Vogue
March
1,
1951

3. Art
as
Life
Two
Paths
Art
as
Art
Post
Painterly
AbstracRon
represented
one
path

4. Two
Paths
Should
art
avoid
everyday
life?
George
Segal,
Cinema,
1963
Albright
Knox
Gallery

5. “To
the
arRsts
who
arrived
in
New
York
in
the
late
fiRes,
the
spiritual
and
Two
Paths
philosophical
aspiraRons
of
the
original
Abstract
Eart
avoid
everyday
life?
wesome;
Should
xpressionists
were
a
yet
these
same
aspiraRons
generated
resentment
because
they
excluded
the
external
world.
Younger
arRsts
chafed
at
being
allowed
to
deal
with
universals
but
not
to
paint
what
could
be
seen
or
touched.
‘We
found
it
amazing,’
George
Segal
recalled
later,
‘that
so
much
avant
garde
twenReth-­‐
century
art
was
rooted
in
physical
experiences
of
the
real
world
and
suddenly
the
Abstract
Expressionists
were
legislaRng
any
reference
to
the
world
totally
out
of
art.
This
was
outrageous
to
us.’”
Barbara
Haskell,
Blam!
The
Explosion
of
Pop,
Minimalism,
and
Performance
1958-­‐1964,
Whitney
Arnold
Newman,
George
Segal
with
one
of
his
works,
1964
Museum,
1984,
p.
12

6. Art
as
Life
Two
Paths
Art
as
Art
One
way
to
get
art
involved
with
reality
is
to
make
it
out
of
“real
things.”
“To
those
dissaRsfied
with
Abstract
Expressionism’s
detachment
from
percepRble
reality,
the
interjecRon
of
commonplace
materials
by
means
of
assemblage
was
seen
as
a
way
of
.
.
.
bringing
it
back
into
contact
with
the
ordinary
and
the
‘real.’”
Barbara
Haskell,
Blam!
The
Explosion
of
Pop,
Minimalism,
and
Performance
1958-­‐1964

7. Junk
Sculpture
“Junk
Sculpture”
and
“Assemblage”
became
such
a
widespread
phenomenon
that
in
1961
William
Seitz
curated
an
exhibiRon
at
the
Museum
of
Modern
Art
Rtled
The
Art
of
Assemblage.
“Assemblage
has
become,
temporarily
at
least,
the
language
of
impaRent,
hypercriRcal,
and
anarchisRc
young
arRsts.”
William
Seitz,
1961
William
SeRz,
the
Art
of
Assemblage,
Museum
of
Modern
Art,
19161

8. Junk
Sculpture
“Junk
culture
is
city
art.
It’s
source
is
obsolescence,
the
throwaway
material
of
ciRes,
as
it
collects
in
drawers,
cupboards,
ahcs,
dustbins,
guQers,
waste
lots,
and
city
dumps
.
.
.
.”
Lawrence
Alloway,
1961
Richard
Stankwiecz,
UnNtled,
1958
Image
source:
hQp://www.metroRmes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=13515

9. Junk
Sculpture
John
Chamberlain
made
sculptures
from
crushed
automobile
parts
“The
whirling
arabesques
of
color
in
wall
reliefs
such
as
Dolores
James
echo
the
energy
and
expressive
power
of
painRngs
by
Willem
de
Kooning;
the
heroic
scale
and
animated
diagonals
suggest
the
canvases
of
Franz
Kline”
Guggenheim
Museum
John
Chamberlain,
Dolores
James,
1962
Guggenheim
Museum

10. John
Chamberlain,
Dolores
James,
1962
Guggenheim
Museum

11. Junk
Sculpture
“It
may
be
difficult
to
imagine
now,
but
in
their
Rme
Mr.
Chamberlain’s
early
sculptures
were
seen
as
a
flagrant
violaRon
of
the
formalist
idea
that
color
was
for
painRng
only.
As
Donald
Judd
wrote
in
1960,
“Colored
sculpture
has
been
discussed
and
hesitantly
aQempted
for
some
Rme,
but
not
with
such
implicaRons.”
Karen
Rosenberg,
“Beyond
the
Junkyard:
John
Chamberlain
Choices
at
Guggenheim
Museum,”
New
York
Times
February
23,
2012
John
Chamberlain,
Hatband,
1960
Image
source:
hQp://www.artnet.com/artwork/423788513/1018/john-­‐chamberlain-­‐hatband.html

12. “Hatband”
(1960),
on
view
at
the
John
Chamberlain
retrospecRve
at
the
Guggenheim.
Sara
Krulwich,
NY
Times

13. “For
the
first
Rme
since
the
period
of
the
futurists,
the
automobile,
for
example,
has
been
effecRvely
dealt
with
.
.
.
.
By
now,
the
automobile
has
become
a
mass
killer,
the
upholstered
love
boat
of
the
adolescent,
and
the
status
symbol
of
the
socially
disenfranchised.”
William
Seitz,
The
Art
of
Assemblage
John
Chamberlain,
Marfa

14. Louise
Nevelson
Assemblages
made
of
discarded
boxes,
crates,
architectural
moldings,
dowels
and
spindles,
all
painted
a
uniform
black
Richard
Avedon,
Louise
Nevelson,
1975
hQp://www.richardavedon.com/
#s=15&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&p=0&a=0&at=0
Louise
Nevelson,
Sky
Cathedral,
1958.
Museum
of
Modern
Art

15. Louise
Nevelson,
UnNtled,
1968
Image
source:
hQp://www.newcriterion.com/arRcles.cfm/Gallery-­‐chronicle-­‐4037

16. “From
the
refuse
found
at
demoliRon
sites,
di
Suvero
pioneered
a
new
form
of
sculpture
in
which
wooden
beams,
chained
together
in
outward-­‐leaning
construcRons,
declared
the
physical
forces
that
held
them
in
check.”
Mark
di
Suvero,
Landmarks:
The
Public
Art
Program
of
the
University
of
Texas
at
AusRn
Mark
Di
Suvero,
Hankchampion,
1960.
Whitney
Museum

17. Franz
Kline,
PainNng
Number
2,
1954
Museum
of
Modern
Art

18. Mark
di
Suvero,
Mother
Peace,
1970
Beethoven’s
Quartet,
2003
Sotrm
King

19. West
Coast
Assemblage
San
Francisco
–
Beat
Art
movement
Los
Angeles
-­‐-­‐
Funk
Art
movement
Larry
Keenan,
Last
Gathering
of
Beat
Poets
and
ArRsts,
North
Beach,
1965
Image
source:
hQp://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/1022/107/

20. West
Coast
Assemblage
While
New
York
arRsts
enjoyed
the
support
of
galleries,
collectors,
and
museums,
California
arRsts
worked
in
relaRve
obscurity
Eliot
Elisofon,
Art
dealer
Leo
Castelli
in
his
New
York
art
gallery
surrounded
by
artwork,
1960
LIFE
Museum
of
Modern
Art,
New
York,
NY.
Philip
L.
Goodwin
and
Edward
Durell
Stone,
Architects,
1939.
Robert
Damora,
Photographer,
1939
Image
source:
hQp://www.robertdamora.com/

21. West
Coast
Assemblage
The
Six
Gallery
in
San
Francisco,
co-­‐
founded
by
Wally
Hedrick
and
Jay
De
Feo,
was
the
center
of
the
San
Francisco
Funk
Art
scene
Alan
Ginsburg’s
first
public
reading
of
Howl
was
at
this
gallery
Wally
Hedrick
with
Jay
De
Feo
and
Joan
Brown
at
the
Six
Gallery,
San
Francisco.
Phoro
C.R.
Snyder
Image
source:
hQp://www.wallyhedrick.com/album.html

22. West
Coast
Assemblage
Wally
Hedrick’s
early
work
consisted
of
assemblages
made
of
beer
cans,
lights,
broken
radio
and
television
sets,
refrigerators,
and
washing
machines
he
found
in
junkyards
“What
interests
me
is
to
take
garbage
and
make
it
into
art,
kind
of
ironic
art”
Wally
Hedrick
Wally
Hedrick,
Yagi,
1953
Image
source:
hQp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wally.yagi.53.gif

23. West
Coast
Assemblage
Bruce
Conner
created
assemblages
from
a
wide
variety
of
materials
that
hint
at
society’s
obsessions
Bruce
Conner,
Looking
Glass,
1964
SFMOMA

24. West
Coast
Assemblage
“In
Looking
Glass,
a
dense
collage
of
baQered
pinups
of
nude
women
is
juxtaposed
with
worn
women’s
stockings,
lacy
undergarments,
and
once-­‐elegant
shoes
in
a
meditaRon
on
male
desire,
vanity,
and
mass-­‐
marketed
ideals
of
femininity
and
beauty.
Presiding
over
this
unseQled
and
unseQling
construcRon
is
a
disquieRng
figure
made
of
stuffed
nylon
pantyhose
and
mannequin
arms
with
polished
nails,
topped
by
a
head
formed
from
a
dead
blowfish.
The
scratched,
torn,
and
burned
surfaces
of
the
photographs
add
to
the
disRnct
sense
of
repulsion
or
frustraRon
conveyed
by
this
work.”
Bruce
Conner,
Looking
Glass,
1964
SFMOMA
San
Francisco
Museum
of
Modern
Art

25. West
Coast
Assemblage
The
Child
is
a
small
figure
sculpted
in
black
wax
and
wrapped
in
nylon
and
string
Bruce
Conner,
The
Child,
1959-­‐1960
Museum
of
Modern
Art

26. West
Coast
Assemblage
Tom
Crow
has
linked
it
to
the
notorious
case
of
Caryl
Chessman,
who
spent
12
years
on
death
row
while
insisRng
upon
his
innocence
Bruce
Conner,
The
Child,
1959-­‐1960
Museum
of
Modern
Art

27. West
Coast
Assemblage
Chessman’s
case
aQracted
internaRonal
aQenRon
and
widespread
protest
against
the
death
penalty
Bruce
Conner,
The
Child,
1959-­‐1960
Museum
of
Modern
Art

28. West
Coast
Assemblage
Conner’s
morbid
and
putrefying
assemblages
suggest
a
society
in
the
throes
of
sickness
and
decay
–
the
opposite
of
the
slick
images
of
1950s
America
seen
in
the
media
Bruce
Conner,
Snore,
1960
Fine
Arts
Museum
of
San
Francisco

29. West
Coast
Assemblage
The
success
of
Conner’s
assemblages
prompted
him
to
quit
making
them
“I
quit
the
art
business
in
1967
for
about
three
years…
At
that
Rme,
whenever
I’d
get
any
leQers
about
art
related
events,
I’d
send
them
back
or
throw
them
out.
SomeRmes,
I’d
write
deceased
on
them.
I
was
listed
in
Who’s
Who
in
American
Art
and
I
sent
back
all
their
correspondence
with
“Deceased.”
Aver
three
years,
Who’s
Who
believed
me
…
So
the
arRst
is
definitely
dead.”
hQp://blog.sfmoma.org/2008/07/11/works-­‐by-­‐the-­‐late-­‐
bruce-­‐conner-­‐part-­‐2/
Bruce
Conner,
Bombhead,
1989/2002
Image
source:
hQp://www.magnoliaediRons.com/Content/Conner/F00011.html

30. West
Coast
Assemblage
He
went
on
to
become
a
pioneer
in
experimental
film
“His
work
was
sampling
before
that
word
existed”
Brian
Eno
and
David
Byrne
Bruce
Conner,
Cosmic
Ray,
1961

31. West
Coast
Assemblage
His
first
film
was
simply
Rtled
“A
Movie”
“Conner
.
.
.
began
making
his
mark
on
cinema
in
1958
with
A
Movie,
a
stream-­‐of-­‐consciousness
montage
made
from
films
purchased
at
a
local
camera
store;
its
dreamlike
structure,
Conner
later
said,
was
influenced
by
TV
channel-­‐surfing.”
hQp://earz-­‐mag.com/2008/07/bruce-­‐
connor-­‐1933-­‐2008-­‐forefather-­‐of-­‐21st-­‐century-­‐
art/
Bruce
Conner,
A
Movie,
1958
See
video
at:
hQp://www.tudou.com/programs/view/3-­‐9tCeFX0Eo/

32. West
Coast
Assemblage
“Using
only
found
footage,
Conner
has
created
one
of
the
most
extraordinary
films
ever
made.
One
begins
by
laughing
at
the
juxtaposiRon
of
cowboys
and
Indians,
elephants
and
tanks,
but
soon
the
metaphor
of
associaRon
becomes
serious,
as
we
realize
we
are
witnessing
the
apocalypse.”—Freude
hQp://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/program/
avantgarde/program5.html
Bruce
Conner,
A
Movie,
1958
See
video
at:
hQp://www.tudou.com/programs/view/3-­‐9tCeFX0Eo/

33. “Since
there
was
a
movie
I
wanted
to
see,
and
didn’t
see
it
being
made,
I
decided
it
had
to
be
my
job
to
make
it.
And
absolutely
nothing
was
being
taught
in
schools
Cow
to
make
films.
I
couldn’t
West
h oast
Assemblage
take
a
class
in
filmmaking.
I
had
to
invent
His
first
film
was
simply
Rtled
“A
my
own
ways
of
making
movies.
All
I
Movie”
could
learn
was
how
to
glue
one
piece
of
film
to
another.
A
MOVIE
was
made
in
the
most
primiRve
film
ediRng
process
that
is
possible.
You
just
glue
it
together.
I
had
no
work
print,
synchronizer,
moviola,
sound
reader.
I
had
none
of
the
technical
tools
that
beginning
film
students
use
today.
I
had
never
even
heard
of
most
of
these
technical
tools.
Although
A
MOVIE
is
being
used
today
–
and
had
been
used
since
it
was
completed
in
1957
–
in
teaching
film
classes,
the
way
I
made
A
MOVIE
is
not
the
way
anybody
is
ever
taught
how
to
make
films.”
Bruce
Conner,
in:
Wiliam
C.
Wees
(Ed.):
Recycled
Images.
Bruce
Conner,
A
Movie,
1958
The
Art
and
PoliRcs
of
Found
Footage
Film,
New
York:
See
video
at:
hQp://www.tudou.com/programs/view/3-­‐9tCeFX0Eo/
Anthology
Film
Archives
1993,
S.
77-­‐86:
82.
[San
Francisco
22.
Mai
1991]
hQp://www.kunst-­‐der-­‐vermiQlung.de/arRkel/kurztext-­‐
conner/

34. West
Coast
Assemblage
Report
was
a
film
about
the
Kennedy
assassinaRon
“In
REPORT
he
has
used
newsreel
footage
and
radio
tapes
of
President
Kennedy’s
assassinaRon
to
produce
a
13-­‐minute
movie
that
captures
unbearably,
yet
exhilaraRngly,
the
tragic
absurdity
of
that
day.”—Jack
Kroll,
Newsweek
hQp://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/program/
avantgarde/program5.html
Bruce
Conner,
Report,
1967

35. West
Coast
Assemblage
In
1978
Conner
became
involved
with
the
San
Francisco
Punk
scene
as
a
staff
photographer
for
the
fanzine
Search
and
Destroy
Bruce
Conner,
Roz
Makes
a
Giant
Step
for
Mankind:
NegaRve
Trend,
January
23,
1978

36. West
Coast
Assemblage
In
1981
he
collaborated
with
David
Byrne
and
Brian
Eno
to
produce
Mea
Culpa
“In
the
course
of
recording
this
album
Brian
and
I
crossed
paths
with
arRst
and
filmmaker
Bruce
Connor,
who
lives
in
San
Francisco.
Bruce's'
legendary
"experimental"
films
are
well
known
for
their
pioneering
use
of
found
footage,
so
it
was
natural
that
we
approach
him
regarding
the
possibility
of
working
together
.
.
.
Connor
mainly
uses
old
educaRonal
films,
science
films,
government
footage
and
film
footage
that
people
throw
out
and
then
recuts
them
to
new
music
.
.
.
His
work
was
sampling
before
that
hQp://bushofghosts.wmg.com/watch_video.php
word
existed,
as
was
this
record.”
hQp://bushofghosts.wmg.com/watch_video.php

37. West
Coast
Assemblage
The
Ferus
Gallery
was
the
center
of
a
thriving
art
scene
in
Los
Angeles
Founded
in
1957
it
hosted
Andy
Warhol’s
first
solo
exhibiRon
in
1962
The
Ferus
Gallery,
Los
Angeles,
1962
Artnet

38. West
Coast
Assemblage
The
group
of
arRsts
associated
with
the
gallery
came
to
be
known
as
“ The
Cool
School”
Ferus
Gallery
ArRsts,
1959
From
Lev:
John
Altoon,
Craig
Kauffman,
Allen
Lynch,
Ed
Kienholz,
Ed
Moses,
Robert
Irwin,
Billy
Al
Bengston
Photograph
by
Patricia
Faure
hQp://www.ferusgallery.com/

39. West
Coast
Assemblage
Ed
Kienholz
was
a
leading
member
of
the
group
Marvin
Silver,
Ed
Kienholz
in
Junkyard,
1962
Craig
Krull
Gallery

40. West
Coast
Assemblage
Before
becoming
an
arRst
he
earned
his
living
doing
odd
jobs,
such
as
working
in
a
psychiatric
hospital,
and
selling
used
cars
and
vacuum
cleaners
Marvin
Silver,
Ed
Kienholz
Expert,
1962
Craig
Krull
Gallery

41. West
Coast
Assemblage
He
began
making
art
from
discarded
junk
and
then,
in
collaboraRon
with
his
wife
Nancy
Reddin
Kienholz,
he
moved
on
to
making
large
scale
walk-­‐in
environments
that
he
called
“concept
tableau.”
Edward
and
Nancy
Reddin
Kienholz
in
the
studio
Image
source:
hQp://www.theartkey.com/index.php?page=news_id&id=248&rlang=en&lang=ru

42. West
Coast
Assemblage
One
of
Kienholz’s
earliest
works
is
John
Doe,
a
paint-­‐splaQered
mannequin
cut
off
at
the
waist
and
placed
in
a
baby
carriage
Marvin
Silver,
Ed
Kienholz
introducing
John
Doe
to
Irving
Blum,
1962
Craig
Krull
Gallery

43. West
Coast
Assemblage
It
was
a
portrait
of
“everyman,”
and
of
the
tortured
soul
of
the
“organizaRon
man’s”
efforts
to
conform
Ed
Kienholz,
John
Doe,
1959
The
Menil
CollecRon,
Houston

44. “The
mannequin
is
cracked
and
chipped,
and
black
resinous
material
has
been
West
Coast
Assemblage
poured
over
its
head.
The
chest
has
burst
open
where
the
heart
should
be,
and
red
paint
has
run
down
like
blood.
There's
a
cross
in
the
chest
cavity.
One's
first
thought
is
that
this
might
represent
the
subject's
religiousness.
But
if
viewers
kneel,
they
can
see
through
the
hole
in
the
chest
into
the
other
half
of
the
divided
mannequin.
Their
gaze
passes
through
the
buQocks
and
out
the
enormous,
erect
phallus
which
projects
from
the
groin.
The
cross
thus
becomes
like
the
crosshairs
of
a
rifle
scope
and
we
get,
as
it
were,
a
sperm's-­‐eye
view
of
John
Doe's
sexual
target
for
the
night.
John
Doe
easily
lends
itself
to
Freudian
interpretaRon,
with
its
raRonal,
religious
half
heading
forward,
only
to
find
its
eroRc
half
pulling
in
the
opposite
direcRon.”
Reagan
Upshaw,
“Scavenger’s
Parade.”
Art
in
America.
October
1996
Ed
Kienholz,
John
Doe,
1959
The
Menil
CollecRon,
Houston

45. West
Coast
Assemblage
Keinholz’s
first
walkn-­‐in
tableau
was
Roxy’s,
which
was
exhibited
at
the
Ferus
Gallery
in
1962
Ed
Kienholz,
Roxy’s,
1961
Bremen,
Neues
Museum
Weserburg,
Germany

46. West
Coast
Assemblage
“Roxys
(1961-­‐62),
was
based
on
the
arRst's
youthful
memories
of
a
brothel
in
Kellogg,
Idaho.
In
developing
the
piece,
Kienholz
worked
like
a
set
designer,
construcRng
a
room
and
filling
it
with
period
props,
including
a
jukebox
which
plays
mid-­‐1940s
music,
a
1943
calendar,
a
photo
of
General
Douglas
MacArthur
and
the
like.
InhabiRng
the
set
are
a
number
of
Kienholz's
grotesque
assemblage-­‐
figures
represenRng
the
madam
and
her
prosRtutes.
The
madam
has
a
cow's
skull
for
a
head,
while
Five-­‐Dollar
Billy,
one
of
the
prosRtutes,
lies
on
her
back
on
the
stand
of
an
old
foot-­‐powered
sewing
machine.
(Is
this
a
pun
on
the
fact
that
she's
there
to
be
Ed
Kienholz,
Roxy’s,
1961
pumped?)”
Bremen,
Neues
Museum
Weserburg,
Germany
Reagan
Upshaw,
“Scavenger’s
Parade.”
Art
in
America.
October
1996

49. West
Coast
Assemblage
In
Illegal
OperaNon
Keinholz
took
on
the
poliRcally
charged
topic
of
aborRon
Ed
Keinholz,
Illegal
OperaNon,
1962
LACMA

50. West
Coast
Assemblage
“The
1962
tableau
is
a
down-­‐and-­‐dirty
disaster
scene,
laid
out
on
a
taQy
old
knoQed
rug.
A
floor
lamp,
with
its
shade
askew,
blazes
over
a
metal
shopping
cart
rejiggered
into
an
operaRng
table.
A
sack
of
oozing
concrete
sits
on
the
table,
like
a
lifeless
body,
above
a
bedpan
liQered
with
rusty
medical
instruments.
Off
to
the
side
are
a
slop
bucket,
a
cooking
pot
and
a
liQle
red
stool,
apparently
used
by
the
‘doctor.’”
Suzanne
Muchnic,
L.A.
Times
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/
news/arts/la-et-
kienholz20-2008aug20,0,6242187.story
Ed
Keinholz,
Illegal
OperaNon,
1962
LACMA

51. West
Coast
Assemblage
In
Backseat
Dodge
Keinholz
took
on
another
controversial
topic
-­‐-­‐
teenage
sex
and
an
emergent
car
culture
Ed
Keinholz,
Backseat
Dodge,
1964
LACMA

52. “One
night
when
he
was
about
17,
Kienholz
borrowed
his
father’s
’38
Dodge
and
drove
it
across
the
state
line
to
a
dance
at
Chatcolet
Lake,
Idaho.“This
girl
was
out
there,
and
I
enRced
her
into
the
car,”
he
said
in
an
issemblage
included
in
a
West
Coast
Anterview
that
is
secRon
of
the
museum’s
Web
site
devoted
to
the
online
collecRon.
“We
got
some
beer
and
pulled
off
in
the
tules
someplace
and
did
inRmate
and
eroRc
things
all
over
her,
and
we
sat
there
and
drank
beer
and
had
a
nice
Rme.”
“And
I
couldn’t
remember
her
name
later,”
he
said.
“I
thought,
what
a
crazy
situaRon
—
to
be
that
inRmate
with
a
person
and
not
know
who
they
are.
It
just
seemed
wrong
to
me
in
a
way.
And
then
I
got
to
thinking
about
back
seats
and
Dodges
and
the
kind
of
a
world
where
kids
are
really
forced
into
a
cramped
space
in
—
maybe
even
a
fear
situaRon,
certainly
a
furRve
situaRon.
Like
what
a
miserable
first
experience
of
sex
most
kids
go
through.
I
mean,
the
back
seats
of
cars.”
Ed
Keinholz,
Backseat
Dodge,
1964
Edward
WyaQ,
“In
Sunny
Southern
Californi
a
LACMA
Sculpture
Finds
its
Place
in
the
Shadows,”
New
York
Times,
October
2,
2007

53. West
Coast
Assemblage
“Kienholz's
major
brush
with
the
authoriRes
came
in
1966,
on
the
occasion
of
his
first
retrospecRve
at
the
Los
Angeles
County
Museum
of
Art.
Upset
by
the
sexual
content
of
Roxys
and
Back
Seat
Dodge
'38-­‐-­‐
probably
Kienholz's
most
famous
work,
in
which
a
male
and
a
female
figure
grope
each
other
in
the
back
seat
of
a
shortened,
purple
Dodge
sedan-­‐-­‐some
conservaRve
county
supervisors
aQempted
to
close
down
the
show.
The
resulRng
controversy
and
Kienholz's
arRculate
defense
of
free
speech
subsequently
aQracted
record-­‐
breaking
crowds
to
the
museum.”
Reagan
Upshaw,
“Scavenger’s
Parade.”
Art
in
America.
October
1996
Ed
Keinholz,
Backseat
Dodge,
1964
LACMA

54. Ed
Keinholz,
Ed
Keinholz,
Backseat
Dodge,
1964
LACMA

55. Ed
Keinholz,
Ed
Keinholz,
Backseat
Dodge,
1964
LACMA

56. West
Coast
Assemblage
The
Beanery
was
one
of
Keinholz’s
more
elaborate
walk-­‐in
tableaux
The
arRst
created
it
aver
seeing
a
disturbing
headline
about
the
Vietnam
war
Ed
Kienholz,
The
Beanery,
1965.
Photograph
Ralph
Crane
LIFE

57. West
Coast
Assemblage
The
incongruity
of
people
eaRng
at
a
local
diner
against
the
backdrop
of
such
violence
was
the
moRvaRon
behind
the
work
Ed
Kienholz,
The
Beanery,
1965.
Photograph
Ralph
Crane
LIFE

58. West
Coast
Assemblage
“The
Beanery
(1965)
[is]
a
full-­‐sized
replica
of
a
railroad-­‐car-­‐sized
bar
and
grill
(based
on
a
real
LA
diner,
Barney's
Beanery),
complete
with
music
and
the
recorded
sounds
of
the
patrons
plus
chemicals
to
produce
the
smell
of
the
place.
“
Reagan
Upshaw,
“Scavenger’s
Parade.”
Art
in
America.
October
1996
Ed
Kienholz,
The
Beanery,
1965.
Photograph
Ralph
Crane
LIFE

59. West
Coast
Assemblage
“Most
of
the
figures
were
cast
by
wrapping
plaster-­‐infused
bandages
around
live
models,
a
technique
that
Kienholz
was
to
use
in
subsequent
pieces.
The
clientele
represents
a
cross
secRon
of
the
populaRon:
there
are
a
young
couple,
two
moving-­‐company
men,
an
aging
barfly
in
a
mink
stole
who
has
brought
her
poodle,
and
others
(no
gays,
though,
since
a
couple
of
signs
warn
"Faggots-­‐-­‐stay
out").”
Reagan
Upshaw,
“Scavenger’s
Parade.”
Art
in
America.
October
1996
Ed
Kienholz,
The
Beanery,
1965.

61. “Kienholz
once
said
.
.
.
"A
bar
is
a
sad
place,
a
place
full
of
strangers
who
are
killing
Rme,
postponing
the
idea
that
they're
going
to
die."
The
stopped
dials
of
the
clocks
inform
us
that
Rme
has
been
effecRvely
killed
in
this
space,
as
forlorn,
in
its
way,
as
that
other
evocaRon
of
the
American
greasy
spoon,
Edward
Hopper's
1942
painRng
Nighthawks.”
Reagan
Upshaw,
“Scavenger’s
Parade.”
Art
in
America.
October
1996
Ed
Kienholz,
The
Beanery,
1965

62. West
Coast
Assemblage
Keinholz’s
concept
tableau
usually
consisted
of
three
Parts:
1. A
wriQen
descripRon
of
the
concept
2. A
drawing
of
the
project
3. The
finished
installaRon
Ed
Kienholz,
The
State
Hospital,
1966

64. Ed
Kienholz,
State
Hospital
(Exterior),
1966
Moderna
Museet,
Stockholm

65. Ed
Kienholz,
State
Hospital
(Interior),
1966
Moderna
Museet,
Stockholm

66. “The
period
1961-­‐72
consRtutes
a
sort
of
miracle
decade
for
Kienholz.
The
free-­‐floaRng
atmosphere
of
violence
at
the
Rme,
from
the
war
in
Vietnam
to
the
race
riots
to
the
poliRcal
assassinaRons,
gives
the
work
of
those
10
or
so
years
an
angry
edge
.
.
.
.”
Reagan
Upshaw,
“Scavenger’s
Parade”

67. West
Coast
Assemblage
Five
Car
Stud
is
a
gruesome
concept
tableau
depicRng
a
racial
murder
It
was
exhibited
at
Documenta
5
in
Kassel
Germany
in
1972
Ed
Kienholz,
Five
Car
Stud,
1969

68. “The
scene
depicts
six
white
men
in
the
process
of
castraRng
a
black
man.
Two
white
men
pin
the
black
man
down
by
his
arms,
one
with
a
rope
Red
to
his
ankles
restrains
a
leg,
two
others
casually
holding
shot
.
.
.
restrain
him
with
the
threat
of
firearms,
while
a
lay-­‐surgeon
(performing
an
"illegal
operaRon")
takes
to
cuhng
off
the
man's
balls
.
.
.
and
penis
with
a
metal
instrument.
Four
cars
and
a
pickup
truck
represenRng
the
makes
and
models
of
the
current
moment
(1972)
surround
the
scene,
illuminaRng
it
in
their
headlights.
In
the
pick-­‐up
truck
(the
odd
car
out,
the
mysterious
face-­‐down
card
in
this
hand
of
poker)
a
white
woman
who
the
narraRve
clues
indicate
is
the
black
man's
date/friend,
has
her
hand
to
her
mouth
gasping
or
holding
back
vomit.
In
one
of
the
other
cars
a
young
white
boy,
most
likely
the
son
of
one
of
the
aQackers,
watches
the
scene
with
impressionable
innocence.”
The
Center
for
Three
Dimensional
Literature

70. “While
the
faces
of
the
woman
and
child
are
rendered
unmasked,
the
faces
of
the
aQackers
are
shrouded
in
costume
masks
–
the
signs
of
masking
are
not
masked,
reminding
us,
for
example,
that
the
KKK
also
wear
hoods.
The
vicRm
also
has
two
faces,
an
inner
one
with
a
sRll
expression
encased
in
a
plasRc
mask
that
depicts
a
scream.
And
as
if
to
clarify
any
ambiguity
over
the
racial
moRvaRons
behind
the
scene,
the
vicRm's
torso
is
made
from
an
oil
pan
with
the
leQers
floaRng
in
black
oil,
which
in
one
configuraRon
—
the
only
one
we
are
intended
to
read
—
spell
and
misspell
N-­‐I-­‐G-­‐G-­‐E-­‐R.”
The
Center
for
Three
Dimensional
Literature

71. “Once
the
viewer
enters
the
tent,
s/he
enters
this
poker
game.
S/he
becomes
an
insider,
a
parRcipant
in
the
scene.
In
accepRng
the
role
of
the
voyeur,
as
every
art
viewer
does,
s/he
is
implicated
in
the
scene.
The
act
of
looking
at
a
piece
of
art
is
a
commitment
to
responsibility:
once
s/he
has
looked
the
choice
and
act
are
irreversible.
Once
a
ciRzen
knows
this
kind
of
violence
occurs,
s/he
can
no
longer
feign
ignorance.
To
ignore
the
scene
and
escape
the
tent
to
view
the
Frankenthaler
in
the
next
room
implicates
the
viewer
with
turning
his/
her
back
on
the
issue;
to
stay
forces
one
to
take
a
posiRon
in
relaRon
to
it.
In
this
scene
of
a
suspended
moment,
where
what
narraRvely
happened
before
and
what
will
inevitably
narraRvely
happen
aver,
the
viewer
confronts
his/
her
own
potenRal
acRons.
Would
s/he
protect
the
girl
from
being
the
next
physical
vicRm
or
rape
her
while
the
others
are
busy;
pull
the
liQle
boy
away
from
the
scene
or
give
him
a
knife
to
jab
with;
fight
off
the
men
to
free
the
black
man
or
personally
finish
the
job?”
The
Center
for
Three
Dimensional
Literature

72. West
Coast
Assemblage
In
a
later
work
Keinholz
re-­‐used
the
photograph
of
Five
Car
Stud
as
the
view
seen
out
the
window
of
a
car
door
Ed
Kienholz,
Sawdy,
1971
Walker
Art
Gallery

73. “The
window
is
open.
It's
like
we're
just
cruising
on
by,
but
what's
happening
out
there?
The
scene
is
from
Kienholz's
Five
Car
Stud
(1969-­‐1972)
and
it's
something
you
just
don't
want
to
see.
White
racists
are
castraRng
a
black
man.
My
father
was
a
racist,
and
sadly
I
can
recognise
that
feeling
of
being
close
to
something
completely
inhuman
and
yet
being
powerless
to
change
it.
All
I
could
do
was
leave
-­‐
I
had
to
drive
on
by,
and
I'm
not
proud
of
it.”
Edward
Allington
hQp://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue4/
microtate4.htm

74. West
Coast
Assemblage
In
the
Portable
War
Memorial
Keinholz
took
on
the
issue
of
the
war
in
Vietnam
Ed
Kienholz,
Portable
War
Memorial,
1968
Wallraf-­‐Richartz-­‐Museum,
Cologne,
Germany

75. Ed
Kienholz,
Portable
War
Memorial,
1968
Wallraf-­‐Richartz-­‐Museum,
Cologne,
Germany
“The
Portable
War
Memorial
(1968).
Five
face
less
mannequins
dressed
in
combat
gear,
posed
as
in
the
famous
World
War
11
photograph
of
the
marines
raising
the
flag
on
Iwo
Jima,
were
aQempRng
to
plant
a
flag
pole
in
the
umbrella
hole
of
a
paRo
table.
The
music
came
from
an
upside-­‐down
garbage
can
bearing
Kate
Smith's
likeness,
while
to
the
right
of
the
marines
were
a
Coke
machine
and
a
reproducRon
of
the
service
window
for
a
hot
dog
stand.
The
enRre
installaRon
was
colored
in
the
tones
of
galvanized
steel,
except
for
a
menu
board
bearing
the
legend
"V-­‐__
Day."
Underneath,
in
chalk,
were
names
of
hundreds
of
naRons
that
no
longer
existed
because
of
wars,
while
the
blank
next
to
the
"V"
awaited
the
iniRal
of
whomever
we
were
to
celebrate
beaRng
this
Rme.(1)
With
its
conflaRon
of
patrioRsm
and
the
turning
of
a
capitalist
buck,
The
Portable
War
Memorial
at
once
evoked
a
past
war
in
Asia
and
stood
as
a
rebuke
to
the
one
currently
raging.”
Reagan
Upshaw,
“Scavenger’s
Parade.”
Art
in
America.
October
1996

76. “Kienholz's
art
was
predominantly
a
socially
criRcal
art
.
.
.
it
confronted
us
with
the
darker
aspects
of
contemporary
American
life.
Its
subjects
were
society's
vicRms
and
the
methods
of
their
vicRmizaRon:
the
loneliness
of
death,
furRve
sex,
violent
acts
moRvated
by
racism.
Indeed,
Kienholz
focused
on
these
and
other
troubling
aspects
of
everyday
life
in
Western
culture
that
were
generally
excluded
from
art
of
the
1950s
and
1960s
including
other
assemblages
and
environmental
work.”
Robert
Pincus-­‐WiQen
hQp://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/kienholz.html