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Mel Bochner
Kick Against the Pricks (Blah, Blah, Blah) Pop Silkscreen Hand Signed/N, Framed

2018

About the Item

MEL BOCHNER Kick Against the Pricks (Blah..Blah...Blah...), 2018 Two color silkscreen on boutique silk fair paper with blue-colored back, 350 gsm paper Signed, dated, and numbered 29/30 on the front by Mel Bochner Frame included: elegantly framed in a museum quality white wood frame with UV plexiglass is included Measurements: Framed: 12.5 inches x 30 inches x .5 inch Artwork: 10.5 inches x 28 inches Published by Two Palms Press Bibliography Catalogue Raisonné of Editioned Prints Krakow Witkin Gallery, Publisher Two Palms Press inventory number MB5429 In the present work, Mel Bochner, famous for his conceptual word art, transforms the ancient proverb, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks", warning the individual against the difficulty of fighting authority, into a latter-day affirmative commandment to rebel, shouted in all caps: "KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS" set against the artist's trademark "Blah Blah Blah." The original phrase was a Greek proverb, but became famous after Jesus was said to have warned Saul on the road to Damascus: "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." The term "pricks" referred to the pain caused by an ox goad - a stick with a pointed piece of iron on its tip used to prod the oxen when plowing. The farmer would prick the animal to steer it in the right direction. Sometimes the animal would rebel by kicking out at the prick, and this would result in the prick being driven even further into its flesh. In essence, the more an ox rebelled, the more it suffered. However, in Bochner's inversion, the phrase "Kick Against the Pricks" becomes a call for individual citizens to stand up to the Establishment, which, in the U.S. of 2018, is the Republicans and Trumpism. (This work was first sold by a Democratic Political Action Committee.) Bochner's phrase also contains a clever double entendre: the "pricks" are no longer the tips of the iron prod against oxen, but, quite literally, they can be interpreted as the secondary meaning of the word, which in modern day vernacular, is "assholes" or "jerks". (A "prick" in slang is also a penis). But anyone owning this work can appropriate the phrase for themselves - and "the pricks" can refer to any oppressor, enemy or unwelcome authority. Bochner created "Kick Against the Pricks" in a limited edition to support the political action committee "Downtown for Democracy" - which raises funds for Democratic candidates in U.S. elections nationwide. So while Jesus may have said "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" - Bochner insists that in these times, it is something we must do. More about Mel Bochner Mel Bochner was born in 1940 and is recognized as one of the leading figures in the development of Conceptual art in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. Emerging at a time when painting was increasingly discussed as outmoded, Bochner became part of a new generation of artists which also included Eva Hesse, Donald Judd, and Robert Smithson – artists who, like Bochner, were looking at ways of breaking with Abstract Expressionism and traditional compositional devices. His pioneering introduction of the use of language in the visual led Harvard University art historian Benjamin Buchloh to describe his 1966 Working Drawings as ‘probably the first truly conceptual exhibition.’ Bochner came of age during the second half of the 1960s, a moment of radical change both in society at large as well as in art. While painting slowly lost its preeminent position in modern art, language moved from talking about art to becoming part of art itself. Bochner has consistently probed the conventions of both painting and of language, the way we construct and understand them, and the way they relate to one another to make us more attentive to the unspoken codes that underpin our engagement with the world. In recent years, a large number of museums have devoted solo shows to Bochner pieces based on written language, such as The Jewish Museum of New York in 2014, The Haus der Kunst Munich in 2013; Museu Serralves de Arte Contemporánea, Porto, Portugal, 2013; The Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2012; The National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2011; The Art Institute of Chicago, 2006. Mel Bochner lives and works in New York. His work includes painting, video, installation and public projects and has been shown in prime art galleries and museums in USA and Europe, and is part of museums’ collections such as MoMA New York, Tate Modern London, Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (Loan Sonnabend Collection).
  • Creator:
    Mel Bochner (1940, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2018
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 12.5 in (31.75 cm)Width: 30 in (76.2 cm)Depth: 0.5 in (1.27 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Artwork ships framed.
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU174529895452

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