The Back 40

source: artpractical

It is not only the photographs that have this wry humor. The Back 40 (2012) is a clever hybrid sculpture/painting of a canvas made from unbleached linen stretched on a wood frame and turned to face the wall. The back and raw edges of fabric are tacked to the stretchers with small black-headed nails. The canvas has been dipped in dye so that a soft horizon line appears about six inches from the bottom edge. Above this minimal landscape is the work’s hanging hardware, and rising between the customary eye screws to left and right, the wire is configured with crags and steppes that peak in the center of the work to form the shape of a mountain. The unfinished wood, natural tones of the raw linen, black nails, and thick black wire all contribute to the work’s old-West feel, and the title coyly alludes to the acreage behind the old RKO Pictures lot in Culver City where movies and TV series like Bonanza (1959–79) were filmed. It suggests the landscape here is just a construct, a backdrop for the real action that might be on the canvas’s front.