The Same Old Shoe
Ed Kienholz American
Nancy Reddin Kienholz American
Not on view
Produced as part of larger editions made with famed Los Angeles prints and multiples fabricator Gemini G.E.L. between 1977 and 1991, The Same Old Shoe exemplifies the ambivalent impact of television in American consumer culture and politics that Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz have explored since the early sixties. In The Same Old Shoe, a vintage cosmetic case sourced from a flea market in Los Angeles, contains a shoe "last" or cobbler’s mold, found in Berlin and positioned inside the gaping mouth of the "screen." In conjunction with the title, the work appears as a tongue-in-cheek play on "same old show," inferring that nothing fresh or interesting is broadcast on television.
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." This work, together with Kienholz's The Block Head (MMA 2019.567.2), exemplifies the often barbed and pointed critiques of American consumerism, racism, and politics that can be found in the Kienholzes’ assemblage work more broadly.
