Confrontation In The North
Artist
Rodney Alan Greenblat
(American, b. 1960)
CultureAmerican
Date1990
MediumMixed media | Wood | Acrylic | Assemblage
DimensionsOverall: 40 x 64 1/4 x 26 in. (101.6 x 163.2 x 66 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Artist, Rodney Alan Greenblat
Object number92.5
Not on view
DescriptionPainted construction, acrylic on wood, mixed media assemblage. Of a Can head house with Can heads outside waiting for the Shapelings to arrive.Label TextRodney Alan Greenblat American (b. 1960) Confrontation in the North, 1990 Mixed media, wood, and acrylic assemblage Gift of the artist 92.5 Known for his brightly painted sculptures, Rodney Greenblat is a prodigy of the 1960s. Born in suburban California, he moved to Bethesda, Maryland, at the age of nine, where he was exposed to vastly different lifestyles at a time of great social upheaval. His work draws from familiar sources, demonstrating the influences of popular culture, a youth spent in suburbia, the visual stimulus of television - especially cartoons - and the art created by children. Confrontation in the North is one of the key pieces from the large site-specific installation, Land Ho! The Mythical World of Rodney Alan Greenblat, which the Museum organized in 1992. This episode, which deals with the conflict between two civilizations, documents in three-dimensional narrative the point in the story when the invaders, the Shapelings, and the Canheads meet for the first time on a high ridge of a frozen volcano in Canland. Though fanciful and seemingly whimsical, the story and artwork carry serious statements about politics, technology, sociology, the environment and human nature. Always intrigued by machines, Greenblat utilized the computer as an artistic resource. Delving into the world of computer assisted design, the artist created working drawings that enabled a fabricator to construct them. The generated data also permitted realistically lighted and shaded renderings. Thus, the artist uses futuristic tools to articulate age-old themes. Exhibition HistoryLAND HO! THE MYTHICAL WORLD OF RODNEY ALAN GREENBLAT, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, Feb 13/14 through April 12, 1992. "Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997 Published ReferencesLAND HO! THE MYTHICAL WORLD OF RODNEY ALAN GREENBLAT, The Chrysler Museum BULLETIN, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1992), pp. 1-2, ill. p.1. Rodney Alan Greenblat, LAND HO! THE MYTHICAL WORLD OF RODNEY ALAN GREENBLAT, (Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1992), No. 12, p. 13, color ill.; No. 12, p. 37.
