Hermann Raum, “Between Las Vegas and Golgotha: On the Work of Edward and Nancy Kienholz,” translated from German by Margarethe Clausen, originally published as “Zwischen Las Vegas und Golgatha. Zum Werk von Edward & Nancy Kienholz,” in Bildende Kunst 9 (1988): 396–398

Hermann Raum focuses on the sculptures of Edward and Nancy Kienholz, and in particular on their work of the 1970s and 1980s. Both works are interpreted by Raum as critical sculptures that confront the viewer directly, with no encoded reference to racism or war. The work shown at Museum Ludwig confronted the USA with its treacherous, bellicose myth and its entrenchment in a daily life of consumerism. The life-size group of headless marines, covered in gold bronze portrays a scene photographed in 1945 during the enormously wasteful quest to seize the Pacific Island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese: victorious American Marines plant the star-spangled banner on Mount Suribachi. The scene had been staged for reporters and turned into an iconic image of American national pride; it became the symbol of heroic bravery and invincibility that the average middle-class citizen needs.