Edward Kienholz

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Edward Kienholz (October 23, 1927 - June 10, 1994) was an American installation artist whose work was highly critical of several aspects of modern life. He often collaborated with his wife, Nancy Reddin Kienholz from 1972 until his death. Collectively, they are referred to as "Kienholz".

[edit] Early life and artistic development

Edward Kienholz was born in Fairfield, Washington in 1927. He grew up on a farm in the eastern part of the state, learning carpentry and mechanical skills in his youth. He studied at Eastern Washington College of Education and, briefly, at Whitworth College in Spokane, but did not receive any formal artistic training. After a series of odd jobs, such as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital, the manager of a dance band, a dealer in secondary cars, a caterer, a decorator and a vacuum cleaner salesman, Kienholz settled in Los Angeles, where he became involved with the arts.

Together with other avant-garde artists in the area, he opened art galleries. In 1956 he founded the NOW Gallery. In 1957 Kienholz started the Ferus Gallery with Walter Hopps. In 1961 he completed his first installation, "Roxys", which caused a stir at the documenta "4" exhibition in 1968.

Despite his lack of formal artistic training, Keinholz began to employ his mechanical and carpentry skills in making collage paintings and reliefs assembled from materials salvaged from the alleys and sidewalks of the city. In 1960 he withdrew from the Ferus Gallery to concentrate on his art, creating free-standing, large-scale environmental tableaux. Kienholz's assemblages of found objects -- the detritus of modern existence, often including figures cast from life -- are at times vulgar, brutal, and gruesome, confronting the viewer with questions about human existence and the inhumanity of twentieth-century society. Because of their satirical and antiestablishment tones, his works have often been linked to the funk art movement based in San Francisco in the 1960s.

[edit] Collaboration with Nancy Reddin

In the early 1970s, Kienholz received a grant that permitted him to work in Berlin with his wife and collaborator, Nancy Reddin, whom he met in 1972 in Los Angeles. Their work has been widely acclaimed, particularly in Europe. His most important works during this period were the Volksempfänger (radio receiving apparatus from the National Socialist period in Germany). In 1973 he was guest artist of the German Academic Exchange Service in Berlin, and in 1975 he received a Guggenheim Award. In 1977 he opened "The Faith and Charity" in Hope Gallery with Nancy Reddin. From the time of the exhibition Die Kienholz-Frauen at the Galerie Maeght in Zurich, 1981, his work was co-authorized with his wife. In 1973, Kienholz and Reddin moved from Los Angeles to Hope, Idaho and for the next twenty years they divided their time between Berlin and Idaho. Kienholz died in Idaho in 1994.

[edit] External links

• "Good morning, my name is Ed Kienholz...: Issues of the Artist's Self-Presentation" (illustrated essay from X-TRA magazine written by Damon Willick)