Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz

Widely acclaimed husband and wife artist duo Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz began producing work together in 1972. After working a variety of odd jobs, Edward established himself as an artist in the late 1950s, creating relief works, freestanding sculpture, and large tableaux from salvaged materials and found objects. With Nancy, Edward began to expand his modernist environments and conceptual pieces, working to establish their collaborative style. A self-taught photographer, Nancy Reddin Kienholz began to explore other mediums after her marriage to Edward, and continued to create assemblage sculptures and lenticular prints after his death in 1994. The Kienholz’ work is characterized by strong political symbology, cultural criticism and insights into the realities of human nature.

Throughout the course of their collaborative career, the Kienholz’ frequently exhibited their work in galleries and institutions.  Edward Kienholz’s work has been the subject of shows at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1966), the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1970), the Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf (1970), the Kunsthaus, Zurich (1971), and the Nationalgalerie, Berlin (1977). The couple played a role in the establishment of the Now Gallery (1956-57) and the Ferus Gallery (1957-59), which were two of the earliest experimental galleries in Los Angeles.