The State Hospital, 1964-66, exterior

The State Hospital, 1964-66, interior

The State Hospital, 1964-66

Large installation piece, interior & exterior

The motivation to create this piece came from an actual experience of the artist who worked as an orderly in a mental hospital before moving to Los Angeles and starting his art career.

 Exterior

Institutional-looking white outer shell crate with door with small barred window

 The piece is meant to seem prison/cell-like depicting a mental hospital as more prison than hospital.

 Interior

Bunk bed, 2 figures with fish bowl heads, bed pan, single bare light bulb

The scene inside is repulsive. Two identical mummy-like figures are lying on dirty mattresses, each shackled to the bed frame by leather straps. The state of the room and of the health of its inhabitants is meant to be a harsh criticism of the state mental hospital system and its treatment of patients (or are they inmates?).