The Block Head

Produced as part of larger editions made with famed Los Angeles prints and multiples fabricator Gemini G.E.L. between 1977 and 1991, The Block Head exemplifys the ambivalent impact of television in American consumer culture and politics that Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz have explored since the early sixties. The Block Head repurposes a concrete cinder block with knobs and antennae, and a small operating radio tuned to a station at random. In a letter to Gemini G.E.L. co-founder Sidney Felsen, Ed explained: "You may have guessed that I have a love/hate relationship with American TV. I sit dummy style in front of that marvelous communication tool and find my years slipping by and my mind turning to slush from the 95% trash being beamed my way." Cement both renders the "television" ineffectual and corresponds to the play on words in "block head," suggesting that TV makes its viewers inert, passive, or stupid. At the same time, the artists also indicate the "objectness" of The Block Head with the addition of a leather handle at the top, as though such a heavy block could be portable and easily handled. This work, together with Kienholz's The Same Old Shoe (MMA 2019.567.1), exemplifies the often barbed and pointed critiques of American consumerism, racism, and politics that can be found in the Kienholzes’ assemblage work more broadly.