NEW YORK—Pace Gallery has chosen an arresting exhibition for its new space on 25th Street. “Kienholz: The Ozymandias Parade/Concept Tableaux” juxtaposes one monumental installation that commands the space of the main gallery with series of small plaques in a rear room—instructions for a various projects over the years that were never realized.
“The Ozymandias Parade” by Edward Kienholz and his wife and partner Nancy Reddin Kienholzis is on view for the first time since it appeared at the Whitney Museum’s 1996 retrospective. Resembling a twisted parade float, the life-sized mixed-media work is staged on a mirrored base lit with red, white and blue bulbs. According to the gallery, the assemblage “addresses the darker sides of twentieth-century Western society, confronting issues of religion, politics, war, sex, and death.”
The exhibit is on view at Pace’s location at 510 West 25th Street from Nov. 8 to Dec. 22, 2012.
All photos by Arts Observer
Detail of “The Ozymandias Parade.”
Detail of “The Ozymandias Parade.”
Detail of “The Ozymandias Parade” with “Concept Tableaux” in background.
Selections from the “Concept Tableaux” series.
Edward Keinholz’s unrealized concepts include “The American Trip” a 1966 idea in which he would start from Los Angeles and travel across the country with fellow artist Jean Tinguely. The two would “drive by car until we are both compelled by a thing, a place, a situation, etc., to do something. I don’t know what it will be…”
Detail of “Concept Tableaux.”
A 1965 tableau is about a fictitious mayor who is absent from his metropolitan city which has just experienced riots in the “Negro ghettoes.” A year later, “The Black Leather Chair” was an idea about the “Negro in America” that focused on a black leather chair displayed in a lucite box with an opening allowing views to reach in a touch a portion of the upholstery.
Detail of “The Ozymandias Parade.”