logo for the online gallery, ANOTHER YEAR IN LA that also functions as a link to the home page

Stephen Kaltenbach

.Bronze plaque, ART WORKS, by Stephen Kaltenbach

ART WORKS: Then & Now

January 1 - February 29, 2020

ART WORKS: Then & Now is an exhibition featuring Stephen Kaltenbach's bronze sidewalk plaques in advance to his very large solo survey/retrospective exhibition, Stephen Kaltenbach: The Beginning and The End, at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis (his alma mater) opening near the end of January. 

Stephen Kaltenbach: The Beginning and The End, curated by Constance Lewallen and Ted Mann, will open on January 26 and ends on May 10, 2020 and for this exhibition, they have embedded five of these in the sidewalks around the campus donated by Stephen Kaltenbach.

 

 

From his 2005 book, Conceptual Art, Daniel Marzona wrote:  "With his 1969 Sidewalk Plaque Series Kaltenbach literally took his art onto the street by having bronze plaques made, which were intended to be set in the concrete of New York's sidewalks  The six anonymous plaques, sited in New York's public space, bearing the inscriptions "Art Works,", "Air", "Blood", "Bone", "Fire", and "Water" bear witness to Kaltenbach's radical view of art: he deliberately dispensed with any claim to authorship or with saleability, in order to be able to test the functional value of art in changed contexts."

There are, in fact, nine bronze plaques that Kaltenbach produced in editions of 100.  In addition to the six noted by Daniel Marzona, there were also Earth, Flesh and Skin.

 

(click on an option below)

Sidewalk Plaques - THEN

ART WORKS

FIRE

AIR

EARTH

WATER

BLOOD

BONE

FLESH

SKIN

 

Sidewalk Plaques - NOW

 

 

SIDEWALK PLAQUES BY STEPHEN KALTENBACH

 

 

Bronze plaque, ART WORKS, by Stephen Kaltenbach

ART WORKS

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Edition started in 1968. Edition of 100.

 

Stephen Kaltenbach:  "The ART WORKS plaque came before the ad. I think that it happened in 1968 when I came back to California after a year in New York. The foundry was still going. Those first ten as you know were not good castings and I believe that I only repaired one which I may have given to someone so there may be 2 number ones." 

 

 

     Cast iron plaque, A ROSE HAS NO TEETH, by Bruce Nauman   
 

Stephen Kaltenbach (when asked about his previous statements that Bruce Nauman's A ROSE HAS NO TEETH plaque: "I did love 'A ROSE HAS NO TEETH' which I only saw in an image but I needed to have the year's experience in NYC with all its sidewalk hardware. I also had to have the Protocol of Opposites epiphany to make the jump from needing an art establishment in which to show my work to the street."


 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE ART WORKS SIDEWALK PLAQUE

 

An adverstisement from the November 1968 ArtForum magazine, ART WORKS, by Stephen Kaltenbach

ART WORKS

Advertisement in the November, 1968 issue of ArtForum magazine.

 

 

A drawing of the ART WORKS plaque by Stephen Kaltenbach

ART WORKS (drawing)

Graphite and ink on tracing paper,10 7/8" x 12 5/8", 1968

Collection, University of Alaska Museum of the North

return to top

 

Stephen Kaltenbach: "Rosa (Esman, who owned Tanglewood Press)  offered to do a multiple with me (7 Objects/69) so the elements came next. I found making plaques that might be part of urban nature, (especially WATER, and less so AIR and FIRE ), funny because that called into question what they were: art or signage. But then there was Earth; which was inexplicable as one of NYC's signs for utilities. That suggested I do Protocol of Opposites on my self and do a series that couldn't possibly be taken as natural so therefore, BLOOD, FLESH, SKIN and BONE.

 

Postcard and bronze plaque, FIRE, by Stephen Kaltenbach

FIRE

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Published by Tanglewood Press (7 Objects / 69) in 1969. Edition of 100. NFS

 

Wooden Box holding the contents of the Tanglewood Press edition, 7 Objects 69

 

 

 

 

Bronze plaque, FIRE, by Stephen Kaltenbach

FIRE (Artist Proof 5/5)

Bronze, 1969/2019

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE FIRE SIDEWALK PLAQUE

 There are many works by Stephen Kaltenbach that reference "fire" in addition to the FIRE Sidewalk Plaque including works on paper as well as a live FIRE WORKS performance in 1979.

 

Colorful drawing of a big ice block by Stephen Kaltenbach

FIRE ON ICE

Pastel on paper, 1967, NFS

 

 

Stephen Kaltenbach's FIRE ON ICE drawing realized as an Installation

at Sculpture Park Egidio Marzona, Verzegnis,

November 17, 2007

Invitation for a performance of a video projected on large block of ice by Stephen Kaltenbach  Image from a performance of a video projected on large block of ice by Stephen Kaltenbach  Image from a performance of a video projected on large block of ice by Stephen Kaltenbach

 

 

 

 

Pastel drawing of fire by Stephen Kaltenbach

Untitled (Fire)

Pastel on paper, 1978

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

 

 

Color Xerox invitation for FIRE WORKS performance by Stephen Kaltenbach

Untitled (Fire Works Invitation)

Color Xerox, 1979, Edition of 400

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

 

Directions to and Images from Stephen Kaltenbach's FIRE WORKS Installation/Performance,

September 1, 1979

Directions to a performance by Stephen Kaltenbach in 1979

Images from 1979 performance, FIRE WORKS by Stephen Kaltenbach    

Images from 1979 performance, FIRE WORKS by Stephen Kaltenbach

 Images from 1979 performance, FIRE WORKS by Stephen Kaltenbach

 Images from 1979 performance, FIRE WORKS by Stephen Kaltenbach 

 

return to top

 

 

Bronze plaque, AIR, by Stephen Kaltenbach

AIR

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Edition started in 1968. Edition of 100

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE AIR SIDEWALK PLAQUE

A pastel drawing on paper, PLAIN LIGHT, by Stephen Kaltenbach

PLAIN LIGHT

Pastel on paper, 1969, NFS

 

 

return to top

 

 

Bronze plaque, EARTH, by Stephen Kaltenbach

EARTH

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Edition started in 1968. Edition of 100

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE EARTH SIDEWALK PLAQUE

 

A drawing of an earth mound built into a kidney shaped swimming pool by Stephen Kaltenbach

AN EARTH MOUND BUILT INTO A KIDNEY SHAPED SWIMMING POOL

Ink drawing on tracing paper, 1967, NFS

 

 

return to top

 

Bronze plaque, WATER, by Stephen Kaltenbach

WATER

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Edition started in 1968. Edition of 100

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE WATER SIDEWALK PLAQUE

A photograph of a commissioned fountain, A TIME TO CAST AWAY STONES, in Sacramento by Stephen Kaltenbach

TIME TO CAST AWAY STONES

Commissioned fountain in downtown Sacramento, CA.

Concrete composite, 9' x 7' x 68',1998

 

return to top

 

Bronze plaque, BLOOD, by Stephen Kaltenbach

BLOOD

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Edition started in 1968. Edition of 100

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE ART WORKS SIDEWALK PLAQUE

A picture of a Kennedy half dollar cast with blood and acrylic medium by Stephen Kaltenbach

BLOOD MONEY

Artist's blood and acrylic medium. Edition of 10

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

return to top

 

Bronze plaque, BONE, by Stephen Kaltenbach

BONE

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Edition started in 1968. Edition of 100

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE BONE SIDEWALK PLAQUE

 

A 3D letterpress print of a skull by Stephen Kaltenbach

CAPUT

3 Color Anaglyph (3D) Letterpress Print on Crane's Lettra #100 White
 Red/Blue Glasses included
 18" x 24", Edition of 50, 2016

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

return to top

 

 

Bronze plaque, FLESH, by Stephen Kaltenbach

FLESH

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Edition started in 1968. Edition of 100

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE FLESH SIDEWALK PLAQUE

 

A picture of three steel tube time capsules by Stephen Kaltenbach

WATER FLESH

EARTH AIR

BLOOD FLESH

Time Capsules, 1970 - Present

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

 

return to top

 

 

Bronze plaque, SKIN, by Stephen Kaltenbach

SKIN

Cast bronze.  Signed and numbered on recto.

Edition started in 1968. Edition of 100

INQUIRE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

 

 

WORKS RELATED TO THE SKIN SIDEWALK PLAQUE

 

A graffiti stencil that reads SKIN DEEP by Stephen Kaltenbach

SKIN:DEEP

Graffiti Stencil

 

 

Steel time capsule that reads SKIN BONE by Stephen Kaltenbach

SKIN BONES

Time Capsule, 1970 - Present, NFS

 

 

return to top