Tim Hawkinson

HAWKINSON, Tim, Lawrence Rinder, Howard N. Fox, and Doug Harvey

ISBN 10: 0874271444 / ISBN 13: 9780874271447

Published by Whitney Museum of American Art / Los Angeles County Museum of Art distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc, New York and Los Angeles, CA, 2005

About this Item

First edition. Hardcover. 223 pages. Published in conjuction with a show that ran February 11 through May 29, 2004 at The Whitney Museum of American Art and then June 26 through September 5, 2005 at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The first comprehensive study of the work of Tim Hawkinson. Features text by Lawrence Rinder along with essays by Howard N. Fox, and Doug Harvey. Includes numerous color illustrations, a chronology, list of previous exhibitions, and a selected bibliography. A clean near fine copy in boards with a small sticker shadow to the rear board. No dust jacket as issued.

Seller Inventory # 212172

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Tim Hawkinson
• Publisher: Whitney Museum of American Art / Los Angeles County Museum of Art distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc, New York and Los Angeles, CA
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0874271444
• ISBN 13: 9780874271447
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Weight: 4.875 pounds
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art Monographs

About this title

Synopsis

This book is the first comprehensive survey of the work of Los Angeles-based artist Tim Hawkinson (b. 1960), whose ingenious constructions of found objects and everyday items have brought him widespread recognition as one of the most original sculptors working in America today. Accompanying an exhibition opening in February at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tim Hawkinson provides an in-depth look at this prolific and endlessly creative artist.

Known primarily for his large-scale kinetic and sound-producing works, such as the monumental Überorgan, Hawkinson has also created a bird skeleton from his own fingernail parings, a latex cast of his body inflated with air, and clocks fashioned from a Coke can, a manila envelope, and a toothpaste tube. His fantastical assemblages, which may include sculpture, painting, photography, drawing, or printmaking, suggest the profound strangeness of life, matter, and time. With 250 color illustrations and three insightful essays, along with the artist's commentary on more than 150 of his hugely varied works, Tim Hawkinson will prove a revelation to all those interested in contemporary art. AUTHOR BIO: Lawrence Rinder is adjunct curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art and dean of graduate studies at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco. He was the curator of the Whitney's 2002 Biennial, among other exhibitions. Howard N. Fox is curator of modern and contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has organized numerous major exhibitions, including Avant-Garde in the Eighties and Eleanor Antin. Doug Harvey is an art critic and writer for LA Weekly.

Review

Tim Hawkinson’s art is the sort of intense, highly personal and often self-referential work that manages through humor and sheer obsessive force to be both accessible and awe-inspiring. It’s often at least a little bit grotesque, but his sculptures and works on paper and canvas flirt with the sublime often enough that it really is worthy of multiple viewings, even though at first it often appears to be a cheap joke. In all of these senses, Hawkinson’s stuff is comparable to the works of Charles Ray, Tom Friedman and Mike Kelley. The companion catalogue to the Whitney Museum-mounted large-scale retrospective finally gives Hawkinson his due. Lawrence Rinder’s essay gives plenty of clearly-written art historical context to Hawkinson’s strange contraptions, while Howard N. Fox speaks of Hawkinson’s near monk-like "sacramental energy." The design is crisp and unobtrusive; the only quibble at all is the use of the Courier font and the fact that the book’s covers are made of a porous material, so be careful to wash your hands before you hold the thing. Inside you’ll find a functioning organ made out of plastic the size of a football field, a bird skeleton made out of nail clippings, a ball made of spoons, a functioning extension cord worn into a knot, a human skeleton fashioned from dog bones, and much more. Hawkinson really turns the world inside out. --Mike McGonigal