Jason Rhoades - Contemporary Art Part II New York Tuesday, November 9, 2010 | Phillips

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  • Provenance


    David Zwirner Gallery, New York

  • Literature


    E. Meyer-Hermann, “Jason Rhoades,” Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, vol. 9, Cologne 2009, pp. 168-169

  • Catalogue Essay

    These two works were produced within a year of one another as independent projects, yet they were destined to be united. Light / Inner Light. Male / Female. Phallic / Vaginal. Manufactured / Readymade.
    Light sculpture is a consistent theme and element in Rhoades’ works, appearing in several of Rhoades’ large-scale installations, including Deviations in Space (Villa Arson, Nizza, Italy 1996-1997), The Purple Penis and Venus (Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, 1998), and The Creation Myth (Hauser & Wirth, Zürich, 1998). The unmistakable phallic Light radiates Rhoades’ irrepressible masculinity. Inner Light anticipates the feminine and vaginal seen in Rhoades later works, including Meccatuna (2003) and The Black Pussy (2005).
    Unlit and unplugged, these lights are independent genders standing parallel to each other, reminiscent of Grant Wood’s iconic American Gothic (1930), one of the most parodied artworks within American popular culture. This is a fitting analogy given Rhoades’ own rural origins in Newcastle, California (2000 population, 6,095). Here, the works are united by as a coital pair by plugging the male element of the orange industrial extension cords into the female. Illuminated, they offer a post-orgasmic, Flavin-esque glow.
    Moreover, Rhoades continued to explore the Readymade, championed by Marcel Duchamp. Using readily available, often inexpensive, materials available from hardware or home improvement stores (often considered the cathedrals of masculinity), Rhoades fashioned the readymade into the human made.

227

Two works: i) Light, 1997 and ii) Inner Light, 1998


i) White plastic bucket with orange lid, transformer, electrical wiring, and fluorescent light fixture. h: 96 in. (243.8 cm); ii) Blue plastic bucket with green lid, mini-Bungee cord, and circular fluorescent light. 15 x 12 in. (38.1 x 30.5 cm).

Each work is from an edition of 42.

Estimate
$25,000 - 30,000 

Sold for $27,500

Contemporary Art Part II

9 November 2010
New York