John McQueen, Untitled #192, 1989, burdock burrs and applewood, 22 1⁄4 x 18 x 20 3⁄4 in. (56.6 x 45.8 x 52.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance, 1993.27, © 1989, John McQueen
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Untitled #192
- Artist
- Date
- 1989
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 22 1⁄4 x 18 x 20 3⁄4 in. (56.6 x 45.8 x 52.8 cm)
- Copyright
- © 1989, John McQueen
- Credit Line
- Gift of the James Renwick Alliance
- 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.
Exhibitions
November 13, 2015–March 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.