Untitled #192

John McQueen, Untitled #192, 1989, burdock burrs and applewood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance, 1993.27, © 1989, John McQueen
John McQueen, Untitled #192, 1989, burdock burrs and applewood, 22 141820 34 in. (56.645.852.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance, 1993.27, © 1989, John McQueen

Artwork Details

Title
Untitled #192
Artist
Date
1989
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
22 141820 34 in. (56.645.852.8 cm)
Copyright
© 1989, John McQueen
Credit Line
Gift of the James Renwick Alliance
Mediums
Mediums Description
burdock burrs and applewood
Classifications
Object Number
1993.27

Artwork Description

The materials and design of Untitled #192 express nature's tenacious power. Burdock is a particularly stubborn weed that grows in the cleared fields of the northeast. Every autumn, John McQueen goes out into the fields and builds his pieces where the burdock grows, partly because the burrs cannot be stored, but also because the artist wants to emphasize the intimate connections between nature and art. The bristly sphere of seed-bearing burrs swells with energy while a trimmed twig of applewood seems to have erupted from within. The result is an object that resembles a sprouted seedpod or the globe of the earth itself, with one symbolic tree rising from it.

Works by this artist (1 item)

Paul Kauvar Smith, The Sky Pond, 1933-1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.59
The Sky Pond
Date1933-1934
oil on canvas
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 2016.11 - SAAM-2016.11_6 - 124929
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery
November 13, 2015March 6, 2022
Connections is the Renwick Gallery’s dynamic ongoing permanent collection presentation, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world.