Can an entire life boil down to those actions and things that fit into a small, dingy room?

The Kienholz assemblage, “Sollie 17” (1979-80), suggests that this could be the outcome of a man’s life. In a re-creation of an SRO hotel room, Kienholz has depicted the totality of the end stage of one man’s life, aging in a lonely existence, existing in a lonely space.

Sollie 17, 1979-80

Kienholz conveys the limits of the man’s existence by providing the figure only three actions, looking out through a window, playing solitaire, and apparently masturbating while reading in bed. All of these solitary acts convey the limits of the man’s life. The man undertakes all of the full range of his existence in his underwear, never heaving the need to appear any other way. All that he needs to live is within his reach, but the filth and decomposition that is apparent suggests that what some might aspire to as elegant simplicity can actually become a dreary physical and mental prison.

Inside detail

One of the most striking aspects of the work is Kienholz’ use of black and white portraiture to capture the man’s head, as though his life is already being reduced to a bland, two-dimensional record. How many of us are already as boxed in as this lonely man? How many people stare out at us from the windows we move past?

Close-up detail