Iron Sorrows

1990 - Sculpture (Sculpture)

27H x 25.5W x 2 inches

Alexis Smith

location: Los Angeles, California
year born: 1949
gender: female
nationality: American
home town: Los Angeles, California

Iron Sorrows (1990) brings together what are for Alexis Smith common motifs and materials such as scavenged and repurposed metal, and street signage. Iron is one of nature’s most abundant metals. Smith, a philosopher of human detritus and poetic associations, presents it in this work as simultaneously everywhere yet paradoxically forgotten, lost in the heaps of refuse that fill junkyards and vacant lots. She thereby recalls and reclaims something important and elemental—indeed, a material that is integral to the physical fabric of culture and society, one that we associate with incorruptibility and malleability simultaneously.


At a moment when Minimalism and Conceptual Art collided, Southern California-based Alexis Smith began working with discarded street signs, matchbooks, movie posters, and other detritus to become one of the pioneers of conceptual assemblage. Her cryptic comments on the cloudy morality of American culture are derived from pop cultural references including political figures like Richard Nixon, Hollywood films, and pop musicians. This borrowing of literally recycled material and recycled cultural tropes is also seen in the work of Smith’s peers Mike Kelley, Chris Burden, and Vija Celmins.


Colors:



Related works featuring themes of: » Advertising and Brands, » Americana, » Appropriation Art, » Assemblage, » American  
» see more

Untitled (Joseph T. Robinson Standing at a Podium in a Room), Damaged series
© » KADIST

Lisa Oppenheim

2003

The Damaged series by Lisa Oppenheim takes a series of selected photographs from the Chicago Daily News (1902 – 1933) as its source material...

The Breaks
© » KADIST

Juan Capistran

2002

The Breaks reflects Capistran’s interests in sampling and fusing different cultural, social, and historical sources...

Justice
© » KADIST

Zai Kuning

2014

Justice (2014) presents viewers with a curious assemblage: a wooden gallows with slightly curved spindles protruding from the topmost plank, which in turn is covered with rudimentary netting, the threads slackly dangling like a loose spider’s web or an rib cage that’s been cracked open...

Other related works, blended automatically  
» see more

8 Ball Surfboard
© » KADIST

Alexis Smith

1995

In 8 Ball Surfboard (1995),Alexis Smith combines her long-term interests in California culture and conceptual assemblage...

Untitled (Joseph T. Robinson Standing at a Podium in a Room), Damaged series
© » KADIST

Lisa Oppenheim

2003

The Damaged series by Lisa Oppenheim takes a series of selected photographs from the Chicago Daily News (1902 – 1933) as its source material...

The Breaks
© » KADIST

Juan Capistran

2002

The Breaks reflects Capistran’s interests in sampling and fusing different cultural, social, and historical sources...

Untitled
© » KADIST

Gabriel Sierra

2010

Untitled consists of a small wooden sculpture that leans against a wall...

Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

'Homoerotic, sexualised' Jesus poster sparks outrage in Spain
© » FRANCE24

'Homoerotic, sexualised' Jesus poster sparks outrage in Spain - In the press Skip to main content 'Homoerotic, sexualised' Jesus poster sparks outrage in Spain Issued on: 30/01/2024 - 11:19 07:56 IN THE PRESS © FRANCE 24 By: Dheepthika LAURENT IN THE PRESS – Tuesday, January 30: We take a look at the French and European papers after French farmers blockade the majors roads leading to Paris in a protest over their working conditions and pay...

A unique fusion of fashion and artistry, HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE “Immersed in the Wilds of Creativity”
© » DIANE PERNET

A unique fusion of fashion and artistry, HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE “Immersed in the Wilds of Creativity” – A Shaded View on Fashion Dear Shaded Viewers, At first when I walked into the Palais du Tokyo, I thought that there were childlike paintings on the walls...

The Dark Surrealist Paintings of Fred Laverne
© » HIGH FRUCTOSE

Tattoo artist, painter, and sculptor Fred Laverne has a dark surrealist sensibility, blending in odes to pop culture and pulp tropes into his work...

Vernissage : Chambre à brouillard — Juliette Agnel, Clément Bagot, Nicolas Darrot, Youcef Korichi, Alyssa Verbizh, Anne-Charlotte Yver
© » SLASH PARIS

Chambre à brouillard — Juliette Agnel, Clément Bagot, Nicolas Darrot, Youcef Korichi, Alyssa Verbizh, Anne-Charlotte Yver — L’ahah Griset — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Chambre à brouillard — Juliette Agnel, Clément Bagot, Nicolas Darrot, Youcef Korichi, Alyssa Verbizh, Anne-Charlotte Yver — L’ahah Griset — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Chambre à brouillard — Juliette Agnel, Clément Bagot, Nicolas Darrot, Youcef Korichi, Alyssa Verbizh, Anne-Charlotte Yver Exposition Dessin, edition, film, installations.....

Related works from the » 1990's created around » Los Angeles, California  
» see more

One Must
© » KADIST

John Baldessari

1997

In One Must , an image of a pair of scissors, accompanied by the words of work’s title, poses an ominous question about the relationship between the image and the text...

Towhead n’Ganga enclosed in darkness, lorded over by the sexualized folded high priestless form
© » KADIST

Mike Kelley

1996

Towhead n’Ganga, enclosed in darkness, lorded over by the sexualized folded high priestless form reflects many of Kelley’s works, in both its compositional and semantic qualities...

Other works by: » Alexis Smith  
» see more

8 Ball Surfboard
© » KADIST

Alexis Smith

1995

In 8 Ball Surfboard (1995),Alexis Smith combines her long-term interests in California culture and conceptual assemblage...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

Peter Hort, Collector Who Forged Strong Connections in the New York Art World, Dies at 51 - via ARTnews
© » LARRY'S LIST

He was the son of Susan and Michael Hort, a collecting couple that is widely known....

‘They feel they are part of that’: community engagement the aim of art initiative in Hong Kong that brings together a project’s developer and neighbours
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

‘They feel they are part of that’: community engagement the aim of art initiative in Hong Kong that brings together a project’s developer and neighbours...

Her Hint for Collecting Like an Artist: Use Instagram - via The New York Times
© » LARRY'S LIST

Zoë Buckman has amassed pieces by creators known and unknown, and she has swapped her own work for that of other artists....

Yoke
© » KADIST

Diane Simpson

2012

Simpson’s sculptural practice connects architecture, clothing, furniture and the body to explore the functional and sociological roles and the influence of the design and architecture of various cultures and periods in history...