
New York
Tim Hawkinson
Whitney Museum of American Art
99 Gansevoort Street
February 11–May 29, 2005
Curated by Lawrence Rinder
In 1995, curious crowds lined the block to see Tim Hawkinson's first New York solo show at Ace Gallery, and chances are the LA artist's loopy, tinkerer-in-the-basement aesthetic will generate similar enthusiasm for his first major museum survey. Hawkinson's carnivalesque approach and carnal subject matter are evidenced in the sixty works on view. Spanning nearly two decades, the diverse selection includes self-portraits cast from inflated latex balloons, tiny sculptures made from ground fingernails, and enormous wind instruments that mimic internal organs. Ancillary to the body theme is the pesky issue of mortality, clearly a consuming topic for Hawkinson (judging from the large number of functioning clocks in his oeuvre).
Travels to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 26–Sept. 25.