Edward Kienholz

Edward Kienholz (born October 23, 1927, Fairfield, Washington, U.S.—died June 10, 1994, Hope, Idaho) was an American self-taught sculptor known for his elaborate found-object assemblages, which convey a harsh scrutiny of American society.

Kienholz grew up in a working-class family on a farm in Washington state and learned auto repair, carpentry, and metalwork skills that served his art well later in life. He briefly attended Eastern Washington College of Education (now Eastern Washington University) in Cheney, Washington, and Whitworth College in Spokane, but he did not earn a degree. He did not study art in school, but he pursued painting on his own until he moved to Los Angeles in 1953 and began producing large wooden reliefs composed of found objects and industrial paints (procured from auto shops and the like). While living in Los Angeles, Kienholz opened two galleries, first the Now Gallery (opened 1956), which he closed in 1957 to partner that year with artist Walter Hopps in opening the Ferus Gallery, which became a successful space for avant-garde exhibitions through 1966.

Kienholz moved away from the relief format to concentrate on elaborately detailed three-dimensional assemblages. His most-famous walk-in scenes include Roxy’s (1961), a replica of a 1943 Las Vegas bordello; Back Seat Dodge ’38 (1964), an intimate tableau of a couple entwined in the backseat of a car; and The Beanery (1965), a reproduction of a decrepit bar with 17 figures, piped-in smells, jukebox music, and background conversation. Critics labeled some of his images repulsive or even pornographic. From 1972 he frequently collaborated with his fifth wife, Nancy Reddin. In 1973 he and his wife began splitting their time between Berlin, where they set up a studio, and Hope, Idaho, where in 1977 they established the Faith and Charity in Hope Gallery. In 1981 he declared in writing in an exhibition catalog that all works made since 1972, the year they had married, should be considered collaborations and credited simply to “Kienholz,” both of them. Kienholz died suddenly from a heart attack at age 67. Per his request, his wife buried him in Idaho (with a dollar and a deck of cards in his pocket) in one of his own installations, a 1940 Ford Packard, which also contained his dog’s ashes and a bottle of wine.