Ed Kienholz’ life was as much a part of his work as the work itself. Much has been made of how his life on a Washington farm and the skills learned there, shaped his mode of expression as well as his subject matter. His most provocative piece, “Back Seat Dodge ‘38”, was said by the artist to have been drawn from the personal experience of his youth. Often portraying himself as a carpenter, machinist, builder, etc., just a “great green simpleton”, Kienholz was part of the rough and tumble, post-war American school of modern art, which seemed to take as its focus a determination to be apart from “the perceived femininity of modern European culture and artistic practice…” The contrast of a young life on a rural farm to lofty American ideals, may have led Kienholz to depict the brutal, dirty downside of those ideals. In his New York Time obituary, Kienholz’ subject was described as “the human condition on a bad day”. The thematic summary of Kienholz’ work may be the juxtaposition of the ideal of independence and success to the consequence of independence and failure. When thinking about how Kienholz’ examination of the reality of life influenced other artists, perhaps the most instructive link is to the work of Duane Hanson. Hanson’s ultra-realistic depictions of middle-class America seem to send the message that the American experience is neither beautifully ideal nor gritty and despair, just somewhere blandly in the middle.