Edward Kienholz "America My Hometown"

 18May-14July 2018

Blain Southern Gallery

https://www.blainsouthern.com/exhibitions/edward-kienholz-america-my-hometown

Edward Kienholz at Blain Souther Gallery, London. 

Mammet (Puridaia) 2018
Sara Jayne Harris

detail from "The Nativity" (1961)
Edward Kienholz

As soon as I stepped into this gallery space at Blain Southern I was immediately transfixed by Kienholz's "The Nativity" (1961). This tableaux of furniture and detritus assemblage sourced from LA streets captured my attention, firstly my eye lingered on the figure to the right of the scene. This recognisable shape had a light casing for a head, and steel stand and cloth hanger for its figure and plaster soaked material and obtruding wooden horse for its form. This reduction of shapes for figure representation is an ongoing concern throughout my practice and Kienholz's treatment of shape through substitution materials intrigued me. At this stage in my practice I cannot substitute facial elements for my Mammet sculptures as I am examining ancestral characteristics but this process of reduction and simplification is a possible direction for future works. Kienholz's wit and keen eye for substitution made for a quirky but powerful tableaux; there is a deeper level operating here. The quirkiness of the manger containing the infant 'Christ' child made from a traffic warning beacon, a box and two plastic dolls legs stuck up in the air made me at first laugh at Kienholz's play with materials, but then the subtext of this piece clamoured for my attention. There is a hostility within the work, an anger. Kienholz was highly critical of a modern capitalist society and the inhumanity he saw within. A demonic creature with a masked (grate)head ominously watches over the infant with superficial concern. Kienholz comments on modern hypocrisies and feigned religiosity. 

Mammets (Atchin-tan) 2018
Sara Jayne Harris

detail from "the Nativity" (1961)
Edward Kienholz

Kienholz's work has ignited my imagination and my recent installed assemblages have been inspired by his careful juxta-position of materials and tableaux narratives. Mammet (Atchin-tan) is a series of recent assembled works exploring materiality and curation. The much larger spaces in the downstairs studios has enabled me to be more free with experimentation and released a new energy for testing curation of my artworks in preparation for the forthcoming MA show.