Matthew Drutt

Over the course of the past two decades, Robert Gober has established himself as one of the most provocative artists of his generation. Perhaps his best-known works are site-specific installations, of which The Meat Wagon is the most recent--part intervention and part critical reinterpretation of the museum as exhibition space. In assembling it, Gober delved deep into the diverse holdings of The Menil Collection for work to intermix with his own pieces, selecting some 40 items, most of which make their display and publication debuts here. The Meat Wagon not only changes key issues that underline conventional museum display, including the relationship of artist to curator and object to context, but also explores the unusually personal context of The Menil Collection: Gober's title is derived from a phrase in the codicil to John de Menil's will. The book includes over 70 object and installation photographs, a checklist and an in-depth interview with the artist.… (meer)