Sorry about the mismatched image, but the gallery hasn’t gotten their images together yet, and I didn’t take any while I was there. This is an image of his work from last year – also employing those scary black kongs. Click on the image to see its original web source.
In a lucky marriage of two artists’ artists (who illustrate well Ruscha’s formula for good art: first Huh? Then Wow! Bad art: first Wow! And then Huh?), Haim Steinbach trolls Mike Kelley’s home for objects to set on his shelves in “Special Project: Mr. Peanut.†Not only is Steinbach in fine form, liberally punctuating the show with super-sized, black “Kongs,†but seeing a selection of objects from Kelley’s home, office, and studio is immensely gratifying. Lined up almost symmetrically on a smooth black mantel, each porcelain or rubber curiosity is the center of ever-expanding nuance and meaning as the viewer’s eye sizes up its neighbor. The grinning boy sauntering off with his cock slung over his shoulder (“Make love, not warâ€) makes the viewer look with entirely different perspective at the plump rabbit in bowler hat.
