Keith Sonnier
(Mamou 1941)
Flocked wall (ca. 1969)
Latex, pigment and flock with two bracing wires, approx. 167 x 456 cm
Provenance:
– Collection Helga & Walther Lauffs, Bad Honnef
– Corporate collection, The Netherlands
Exhibition:
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Sammlung Helga und Walther Lauffs – Amerikanische und Europäische Kunst der sechziger und siebziger Jahre, 13 November 1983 – 8 April 1984
N.B.:
Keith Sonnier made a name for himself in the nineteen sixties by using non-traditional materials, including various industrial and organic materials. He was the first artist to incorporate neon in his works. Sonnier is part of the generation of Post-Minimalists, together with Eva Hesse, Robert Morris, Richard Serra and Richard Tuttle. With his works he was able to expand the traditional ways of viewing sculpture. Flocked Wall is part of a series of works Sonnier made using latex. The work was only suspended from the wall from the top, the lower side was tightened in space using ropes. Due to this method of exhibiting the work floats in space, trancending the border between painting and sculpture. Works by Sonnier are part of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Gallery in London and the Moderne Museet in Stockholm.