Dictionary
Funk Art
Funk art was a Californian form of Material art practised by artists in San Francisco during the 1960s. Its material basis resembled Junk art, which also incorporated discarded and thrown away items, and it could be understood as representing fast-moving consumer society. This became the basis of the Funk artists’ work, and created a new kind of aesthetic. Funk art was largely characterised by an emphasis on specific objects; the artists frequently used old records, black leather, stockings, and pin-up pictures in their works, producing humorous and erotic, sometimes terrifying, effects.
The main representatives of Funk art included Robert Arneson, Wallace Berman, Joan Brown, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, David Gilhooly and Harold Paris. The artists primarily produced assemblages and other environments, as well as paintings and ceramics.
Edward Kienholz (1927-94), was one of the leading practitioners of Funk art, and collaborated with his fifth wife Nancy Reddin Kienholz, from the 1970s onwards. Keinholz’s work was occasionally shocking, as exemplified in "Miss Cherry Delight" (part of the environment 'Roxy’s' executed in 1961/2), a severed plastic woman’s head, which was placed at the top of a mirror in a vanity table mirror, as well as "State Hospital" (1964-66) which included figures that evoked decomposing corpses, lying on hospital beds. Robert Arneson’s (1930-92) work also contained subtly grotesque elements. In "Typewriter" from 1965, the keys of a typewriter made out of clay were replaced with fingertips with bright red painted nails.
Funk art was a Californian form of Material art practised by artists in San Francisco during the 1960s. Its material basis resembled Junk art, which also incorporated discarded and thrown away items, and it could be understood as representing fast-moving consumer society. This became the basis of the Funk artists’ work, and created a new kind of aesthetic. Funk art was largely characterised by an emphasis on specific objects; the artists frequently used old records, black leather, stockings, and pin-up pictures in their works, producing humorous and erotic, sometimes terrifying, effects.
The main representatives of Funk art included Robert Arneson, Wallace Berman, Joan Brown, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, David Gilhooly and Harold Paris. The artists primarily produced assemblages and other environments, as well as paintings and ceramics.
Edward Kienholz (1927-94), was one of the leading practitioners of Funk art, and collaborated with his fifth wife Nancy Reddin Kienholz, from the 1970s onwards. Keinholz’s work was occasionally shocking, as exemplified in "Miss Cherry Delight" (part of the environment 'Roxy’s' executed in 1961/2), a severed plastic woman’s head, which was placed at the top of a mirror in a vanity table mirror, as well as "State Hospital" (1964-66) which included figures that evoked decomposing corpses, lying on hospital beds. Robert Arneson’s (1930-92) work also contained subtly grotesque elements. In "Typewriter" from 1965, the keys of a typewriter made out of clay were replaced with fingertips with bright red painted nails.
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