Collections

Kienholz, Edward

Last Name: Kienholz
First Name: Edward
Dates:
1927 - 1994 (Life/Active Dates)
Biography/History: A gallery operator turned artist, Edward Kienholz was one of the leading figures associated with the 1960s radical movement on the West Coast and was identified with Pop Art. He used common everyday objects in has assemblages and full-scale environments to jar public awareness of social issues that people like to avoid. However, unlike most Pop artists, his imagery was not the conventional items of popular culture but was junk--raw, discarded and highly personal items that he found at swap meets, garage sales and in dumpsters. This element of chance effect also aligned him with the Dada movement. He was born in 1927 on a farm in Fairfield, Washington, and had little higher education except for a few semesters of college. A Rembrandt exhibit in Minneapolis inspired him to be an artist as did Tom Lea, an older muralist and painter whom he came to know while living in El Paso, Texas. Kienholz lived in Los Angeles for two decades. He married artist Nancy Reddin, and they lived in Berlin and then settled in New York City where he has been grouped with Robert Rauschenberg "hicks from the sticks" movement, a continuation of the Dada movement. Nancy Reddin became a collaborator on the assemblages whose subjects were invariably social protest.] (Source: Information taken directly from the archives of Askart.com , 6/17/2005.)
Related Participants:
Related Objects:
3714.1 (Sculpture; Assemblage, The Jesus Corner, 1982 - 1983)