Teachers Network

OVERVIEW OF THE VISUAL ARTS

PROJECT 9-1:

RUCKUS: 3-D COLLAGE/ASSEMBLAGE

FOR THE TEACHER

SLIDE #35: AARRRRRRHH, (from "No Gas" portfolio), 1976, Red Grooms, 70.5 X 55.6 em., lithograph, Gift of William E. Hartman, The Art Institute of Chicago

SLIDE #36: Hollywood, 1965, Red Grooms, 31-lJs X 36 X 12-% Inches, construction of acrylic on wood, metal foil, nalls, plaster, Gift of Joseph H. Hlrshhorn, 1972, Hlrshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution

When Red Grooms (b. 1937) went on his honeymoon in Italy with wife and collaborator Mimi Gross, they rented a circus caravan and traveled, giving puppet shows to pay their way. The horse that pulled the wagon was named Ruckus. Grooms's best-known "environment" is called Ruckus, Manhattan: A Sculptural Novel. This work filled a 6,400-square foot building in New York, and was attended by 150,000 people. His assemblage Chicago was created before Ruckus, Manhattan and in .the same general style. Grooms's sculptural assemblages are whimsical, with buildings deliberately distorted. It has often been called Disneyesque. For a time he was not taken seriously by the art world because of his bizarre sense of humor. He was a pioneer in the field of Happenings. His mature work-while it is always collaborative, with himself as the director of a crew of (sometimes) 20 people-seems like a permanent collection of Happenings. He began as an artist just as pure Abstract Expressionism was phasing out, and perhaps this accounts for the success of his reality-based assemblages.

Examples of Work by Red Grooms

Michigan Boulevard with Mayor Daley, 1978, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Loft on 26th Street, 1965-1966, Hirshhorn Museum of Art, Washington, D.C.

City of Chicago, 1967, Chicago Art Institute

Tootsie, 1971, Collection estate of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, Washington, D.C.

Mr. and Mrs. Rembrandt, 1971, Cheekwood Art Museum, Nashville, Tennessee

Ruckus, Manhattan: A Sculptural Novel, 1976, collection of the artist, New York

PREPARATION

Explain the idea of a group assemblage. Each student will create an individual piece that will be part of a collage / assemblage. Students may plan together to make something, such as a group of buildings, yet each student needs to take responsibility for only one building. The scale used will depend on display space and materials available. It could be large enough to fill a hall or gallery, or so small it will be displayed on two classroom tables pushed together. Take at least a week to get materials together, working out ideas in advance. Try to get pictures of works by Red Grooms so students will see that they can have fun with the project.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

. Have students find an artist's photo or portrait. The artist could be from any field of fine arts such as visual arts, music, theater, or dance. Grooms did a number of artworks based on Matisse, Picasso, Rembrandt, Dali, and other easily recognizable artists whom he admired. Students would then make a portrait of that artist through the use of fabrics and other found objects to create a parody collage of an existing masterpiece. Red Grooms did this with Mr. and Mrs. Rembrandt.

 

Junk sculpture usually shows great wit. Another American, Holly Hughes of Socorro, Arizona, does  huge, delightful, "real" sculptures of animals and people from recycled materials of all Put out a call to parents for fabric, workbench leftovers, shells, and all the other "good that people don't need and that your students can use to create masterpieces on foam core board. These paintings / sculptures would be made to hang on a wall.

Dali Salad (1980) was one of Grooms's multiples. It was a humorous three-dimensional print consisting of a variety of "salad greens" printed on plastic cut-outs, with Salvador Dali's head staring up from the center. His eyes were created from ping-pong balls, and the whole "salad" was presented under a clear plastic dome. To make such a composition, have students paint shades of green on acetate with acrylic, then cut it into shapes that could be joined together on a plastic plate to resemble a salad. Rather than putting an image of Dali in the center, have them think of things they would just as soon not find in a salad. This could make a great display. Other one-dish meals such as spaghetti could also be painted on acetate.

 

Photo 9-1A. Maquette for "Way Down East," 1978, Red Grooms, mixed media construction, 40 X 106 X 75 inches, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, Smithsonian Institution. Photography by Lee Stalsworth.

 

Photo 9-1B. Ruckus Construction Company, 1967, Red Grooms and Mimi Gross, mixed media, approx. 365.8 X 762 X 762 em., City of Chicago, Gift of Mrs. Maggy Magerstadt Rosner, The Art Institute of Chicago. #1 Installation Photography.

PROJECT 9- t :

 

RUCKUS: 3-D COLLAGE/ASSEMBLAGE

 

Materials

. Glues: white, Tacky glue TM, glue guns, epoxy

. Collage materials: cardboard, foam board, burlap

. Paint: tempera, acrylic, house paint

. Wood scraps: broom handles, plywood, etc.

. Papier-mache equipment: newspaper, brown paper, wallpaper paste

. Tools: hammers, nails, staple guns

. Wire coat hangers and pliers to cut them

. Plaster-impregnated tape (Sculpt-tape TM)

. Plaster

 

Drawn after

Looking Along Broadway Towards Grace Church,19_ Red Grooms

Marborough Gallery, NYC

Red Grooms is an artist/director. He and his large crew of artisans create individual pieces that they put together to make enormous assemblages. They have created two "cities" (Chicago and New York) that include people, streets, cars, crazy distorted buildings, even a subway complete with life-sized riders. Hi work is brightly colored, cartoon-like, and-above all-humorous. He is always fascinated by the circus and movies, so a circus-like atmosphere with its confusion and bright colors is appropriate for this project.

De1. Decide as a class on the theme of your assemblage. If you decide to create the city you live in, think of landmarks, buildings, signs, and places or things you find amusing. Other possible themes are your school, transportation, circus, zoo, grocery store, bakery shop, train station, used-car lot, restaurant, or the prom. Use your imagination, but work together as a group to have a unified assemblage in approximately the same scale.

2. Here are a number of possibilities for creating sculpture:

  • Cardboard: Work in layers, with the center being the largest, the actual size and shape you want. On each side glue additional layers working slightly smaller on each side until the form becomes slightly rounded. Paint.

  • Papier-mache: Use tape and newspaper to make forms, or create forms from chicken wire first, then cover with newspaper strips dipped in wallpaper paste. Finish with either paper toweling or torn brown grocery bags or kraft paper.

  • Make a miniature Hollywood-style movie set of just facades. Foam board or cardboard can be cut to shape. Put a brace on the back so it will stand up. Paint it with any type of paint.

  • Cut and twist wire coat hangers. Then wrap them in cloth, or dip cloth in plaster and drape it over the wire shape. Old nylon hose can also. be stretched and tied over twisted forms made from hangers, coated with gesso or plaster, then painted.

 3. Real objects may be incorporated into the ones you have created and painted. Humor is important here. Try to use objects in a context that is not normal. Allow your viewers to discover how creatively you have used some of the objects.

4.   4. When the individual objects are completed, put them together for an "exhibition." If you have worked on a large scale, allow room between objects so people can walk among them to see then well. Make visual "connections" with what you put on the floor or on the walls behind the assemblage.  Don't forget the cartoon-like atmosphere you are trying to create.