EDWARD KIENHOLZ

"Una vita contro"


THE WORKS

" Roxy's "

" The illegal operation "

" The Nativity "

" The birthday "

" While visions of sugar plums 
   danced in their heads "
   
" The back seat Doge '38 "

" The wait "

" The Beanery "

" The state hospital "

" The eleventh hour final "

" The portable war memorial "

" Five car stud "

" The concept tableaux "

THE BEANERY - 1965

Fiberglass, paint, varnishes, shellacs, wood, bottles, metal, cast plaster figures, clothing, juke-box, tape recorder, odor producing chemicals.

“The Beanery” is a recreation of a famous old Los Angeles bar. It has been described elsewhere as a “communal coffin”, a “sanctuary where alcohol lessens social barriers, many things are possible, and people escape to relax and kill time”. Time to Kienholz represents each individual’s space before death, and this preoccupation with time and death can be seen as the fundamental basis of all his large environments. “The Beanery” assaults all the senses (except taste) with an intensified of reality that demands response from all who enter it’s swinging doors.