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| ©Tim Rollins and K.O.S., Inc. Tim Rollins and KOS American (Rollins, b. 1955) RED BADGE OF COURAGE (SOUTH BRONX) (1986) oil on book pages on linen 80" x 142" |
| STYLE:
multiculturalism, collaboration, printmaking |
|
Tim Rollins and KOS are best known for a series of projects in
which Rollins and his student collaborators—young people living
in the Bronx—read and discuss works of literature and then explore
different ways to find visual counterpoints for the printed words.
In a typical Rollins and KOS work, the book pages are mounted and
used as a background to be drawn on, painted, cut, burned, etc.
The finished works are usually large and quite spectacular—postmodern
versions of the illuminated manuscript. Critic Arthur Danto has
said that Rollins & KOS' work "could not be political unless
it was beautiful," but he also notes, with others, that the
process with which they arrive at their productions is as interesting
and important as the works themselves. |
CRITICAL EXCERPTS |
| Jean Fisher, ARTFORUM,
1/87 "Tim Rollins + Kids of Survival radically challenge...purist and elitist notions. Their collaborative art interprets culture through young people who are generally dismissed as having virtually nothing to contribute to it. Rollins has worked with South Bronx teenagers for about seven years, extending his school program at I.S. 52 into an independent workshop called "Art and Knowledge." The kids in it have made a serious commitment to a program whose practical activities incorporate reading, discussion, and direct contact with art in museums and galleries. K.O.S....investigates classics of world literature, examining primary themes or instants in those texts that can be reinvested with K.O.S.'s knowledge and feelings, both of local experiences in the South Bronx as well as of broader world issues. The book is thus reclaimed...its pages form the ground upon which another image is constructed...Political without being propagandist, the work has a breadth that extends beyond its subtle commentaries on white/non-white cultural relations, and seeks to dismantle the representations that support dominant myths...The Red Badge of Courage II, 1986, make culture's use of acts of self-sacrifice and heroism problematic...The Red Badge of Courage II, however, touches a universal chord. Like the body in a Grunewald altarpiece, the pages of Stephen Crane's novel are marked by open wounds. These are signs of the violation of those whose lives are insignificant or expendable according to a symbolic order that appropriates their deaths through a language of heroism, supporting its own master narratives." |
| Elizabeth Licata,
Interview with Tim Rollins and KOS members, 9/95 Tim Rollins: I taught public school at School 52 in the Bronx for 6 years (1981-1987). What I did was, I said, ÒOK, I'll come and I'll join your staff, but here's what I would like to do. First of all I'm going to work with special ed kids, only.Ó And that was fine with them, because most people don't want to deal with those kids. And the second thing I wanted was six to seven classes a day, every day. I wanted art to become a major subject. But I also thought it was unethical to have kids painting when they could not spell the word painting. Until then, art was like indoor recess. Not with me. We did a lot of reading, writing, vocabulary. When I go across the country, I say that art educators have to stop banging their heads against the wall trying to get more art programs and art teachers—frankly, I'm not interested in more art teachers. I'm interested in a math teacher that can teach art. When you draw an isosceles triangle, you never forget what it is, and when you build one you really never forget what it is. I was using art as the core of the curriculum instead of being an accessory to the math, english, or science. |
| Elizabeth Licata,
Interview with Tim Rollins and KOS members, 9/95 Robert Branch, KOS: I started working with Tim when I was about 16, a junior in high school. Now I'm a freshman at Cooper Union. I was on a class trip and I came to the studio. Up until then I wanted to be a comic book artist. I had never seen an art studio; I had never really met an artist outside of the school system. Artists don't exactly advertise themselves in the neighborhood. So I went to the studio—it was about 15 minutes away from my house and I was looking at the place, checking it out because this was probably my only opportunity to ever see an art studio. Tim asked me to write my address and my phone number. He did call and he set an appointment and asked me to come over and show him my drawings. I came over, we talked and I met all the guys who were there at the time. It clicked. I came back the next day, and the next day, and he couldn't get me out of the studio. |
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Elizabeth Licata, Interview with Tim Rollins and KOS members,
9/95
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