Edward Kienholz: Is He an Artist or Did Roxy's Go Too Far?

Edward Kienholz, described his own work as that of a trail-maker and the viewer as the hunter, "At one point I as the trail-maker disappear. The viewer is then confronted with a dilemma of ideas and direction. The possibilities are then to push on further by questions and answers to a new place that I can't even imagine or turn back to an old safe place. But even on the decision is direction." (Hopps, p.147)

Edward Kienholz first began his socially critical environments in the early sixties. When they first were displayed, they shocked the public. However they did not create a large stir outside the art community, until the creation of ROXY'S in 1961. ROXY'S provoked vulnerability in the private life of the individual to intervention by the environment and social convention. Ed Kienholz' environments are art and set the president for all up and coming sculptural artists.

When creating the whore house ROXY'S, Ed worked it in two ways: the "real" part and the "art" part. He worked the environment, so it felt like a real location in a real place in time, or the "real part". The second way he worked this piece, was the "art part" which was usually messed up, clunked around, and torn apart; which, in this case, was his representation of the seven whores and Ben Brown, the towel boy. One example of this destruction is that many of the whores are covered in paint, which, no matter what color, represented blood. (Reddin-Kienholz p.12)

In order to recreate the feeling of a nineteen forties whore house, in Nevada, which he had never seen, but had heard of, he thought back to a local whore house around where he grew up in Kellogg, Idaho. ("Edward Kienholz" encyclopedia)

As the viewer walks up to the two roomed environment, a scratchy 78 is playing a familiar, popular forties song on the jukebox. On the wall there is a calendar dated June 1943, and a sampler, which reads, "There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us to talk about the rest of us." (Appendix 3) There is also a picture of General MacArthur on the wall next to coat rack upon which hangs the coat of a G. I. The furniture as well is reminiscent of the nineteen forties (appendix 1 & 2).

Ed uses the environment at ROXY'S to help the audience imagine the possibility that this was a real whore house and feel as though they are actually there. "By emphasizing these aspects, Kienholz establishes the sordid contradictions in society between reality and appearances; between the representational and the faÐ"§ade and the psychological underpinnings of society's paradoxical attitudes." (Reddin-Kienholz, p.6) The picture of General MacArthur, for example, shows that the whorehouse liked G. I.'s and treated them well (Cromwell).

This piece would look like a recreation of a typical 1940's house, if it weren't for the seven whores and Ben Brown standing around. The viewer sees the whores in this order Zoa, Fifi, Cock-eyed Jenny, the Madam, Diana Pool Miss Universal, Miss Cherry Delight, and Five Dollar Billy. Lastly the viewer sees Ben Brown the towel boy in a corner on his treadmill. Each of these whores has their own personalities and signifiers (Cromwell).

Zoa, (appendix 4) her body is a letter dispensing box and/or machine, which opens when a nickel is inserted. When the doors (which can also be interpreted as legs) open the viewer sees red walls with images of unborn children lining the walls. Zoa is the only whore who has a twin, named Zoe. Zoe was completed and sold before Ed finalized the concept of ROXY'S. The two girls are identical, except one has a right leg; the other has the left leg.

Fifi is a lost angel, (appendix 5) she is an attractive, board girl with a clock ticking in her belly. She never gives a customer more time with herself, then what they paid for. She spends her free time playing solitaire and tricking men.

Cock-Eyed Jenny (appendix 6) is a pop-lid garbage can, with the word love written on the inside. Going to see Cock-Eyed was a euphemism, at the time, for a father taking his son to lose his virginity. This experience in the end more than likely scarred the boy's thoughts and feeling towards women and sex.

The Madam (appendix 7) is the representation of the thought of a whore with a golden heart. She has a children's sampler of the Lord's Prayer around her neck, this gives the viewer a small hope that she might take a girl a bowl of chicken soup when she has menstrual cramps. She is an entrepreneur and a business woman. Her boar's skull head is there to scare away new customers, while her drape skirt allows easy access for old customers.

Diana Pool Miss Universal (appendix 8) is one of the most ugly girls in the house form the waist up. Her head is a jack-o-lantern and a row of saggy breasts line her chest. She fits the description of a whore so ugly you can only have sex with her if there is a sack over head. She uses puppets to entice men and show them her desirability.

Miss Cherry Delight (appendix 9) is the free, beautiful, and sought after whore at ROXY'S. She shown as a dangling head in front of a cluttered, mirror-less, dressing table. The dangling head symbolizes that she is out of control. She is very popular with men as well as women. She has a collection of wedding figurines, which shows that she is always a bride's maid never a bride. In one of her drawer is a letter from her sister, but it was addressed to the wrong place which shows that she is ashamed of her profession and unable to tell her dedicated family, however she is doing well enough that she is able to send them money, when they need it.

Five Dollar Billy (appendix 10) is the young virgin whore whose legs are smaller than the rest of her body, because the majority of her exercise is the thrusting of her hips and pelvis, she doesn't like to dance. She has a squirrel on her chest stashing nuts/money, away for old age. The rose on her neck shows her innocence and represents her ability to disassociate mind form what her body is doing. She is a "new" top for a sewing machine table. She waits for men to come alone and pump her pedal, and those men who have come along have left their initials and other