Washers and Dryers as Fine Art

[hydralique]

[COLOR=black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt]Yesterday I went to MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in downtown LA. This is a major, well respected museum with two facilities, the main building and the Geffen Contemporary. I was in the Geffen and spied what looked like a classic American single unit “stacked” washer-dryer across the gallery. I couldn’t imagine what it was doing there, so had to investigate! Turns out it was a full-scale sculpture by a Japanese-American artist named Kaz Oshiro. It was made of traditional art materials like wood, canvas, and gesso, but with real knobs. There was no brand but it could have been GE, Maytag, or perhaps even a Frigidaire Gallery - how appropriate!  Even the labels for the knobs were carefully hand painted. Here it is, pardon the bad cellphone pic.[/COLOR]

[this post was last edited: 1/24/2011-12:32]

 

[hydralique]

<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Once home I googled Kaz Oshiro and found this link to the Saatchi Gallery in London, complete with this photo of another of his sculptures entitled “Washer/Dryer # 3”. Mr. Oshiro evidently lives and works here in LA and I have to wonder what other sculptures he’s made. Certainly they’re nice, though I must admit I’d love to see him tackle a Control Tower Frigidaire or maybe a Philco/Bendix Duomatic!</span>

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[appliguy]

Ok here is my take on the brands of these machines

The controls on the stacked unit are from a Kenmore. The Controls on the Laundry Pair are from GE. Those sculptures are really cool...and I think the artist has a lot of class.....PAT COFFEY

 

[frigilux]

Andy Warhol was doing this 50 years ago with his Campbell's Soup can replications. It's simply taking an everyday item and re-appropriating its image to get you to look at the item from a different perspective.

For that matter, Marcel Duchamp did something similar in 1917 when he displayed a urinal lying on its back, calling it a fountain, just to get people to look at an everyday object from a different perspective.

But since the stacked combo unit is displayed in its usual upright position, I'd tend to compare it more to the Warhol model.

 

[spiralator60]

Appliance Art

Hydralique,

Thanks for letting us know! Is this part of a regular display at MOCA, or some special theme exhibit?

 

[tomturbomatic]

Well, Ken's work is fine appliance art, too, done especially for a select group of conoisseurs. Does anyone remember Snagglepuss explaining that word and its pronunciation?