Jason Polan
Life-Size King Kong
2018, 150 notes per inch, New Zealand wool, 100 x 85 inches, edition of 20 + 2 APs
BravinLee editions is very pleased to announce the completion of Life-size King Kong, our first rug project with Jason Polan.
King Kong (1933), expresses the cluelessness of western civilization. It is a metaphor for racism, slavery, colonialism, and run amok capitalism. Jason Polan's Life-sized Kong has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any of that.
Jason Polan is an artist living in New York City. He has exhibited work all over the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He is a founding member of Taco Bell Drawing Club. He has made over 100 books including The Every Piece of Art in the Museum of Modern Art Book (twice). Mr. Polan’s drawings have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and ARTnews. He has done projects with The Criterion Collection, Uniqlo, the Whitney Museum, and The Ford Foundation. Polan is currently drawing every person in New York (he has drawn over 80,000 people so far). Polan is from Michigan.
Jason wrote the following statement about his Life-Size King Kong rug:
"I initially made this as a little drawing in my sketchbook during a Taco Bell Drawing Club Then I decided I wanted to make King Kong "life size." I thought the idea of making a full size version of something that wasn't even real in the first place was kind of fun, but also I, like a lot of us, like to think King Kong is real. I measured the proportions of the face to when he was holding Fay Wray and made it (in proportion to her height) as close as I could to the size I thought he was. I made it as a pencil drawing and it took up a large portion of a big wall. I also made a t-shirt (literally one) and silkscreen print of the drawing because I like King Kong a lot. I thought if it was a rug it might make it a more successful piece than the other iterations -- you can feel the texture of King Kong's fur. I also like the idea of people in New York hanging this on their wall, turning the rug into a big window, with King Kong looking in."
The big guy measures 100 by 85 inches, is hand woven in Nepal from New Zealand Wool and is produced in an edition of 20 with 2 artist's proofs
BravinLee editions is a proud member of GoodWeave. The GoodWeave label is the best assurance that no child labor was used in the making of a carpet.
Roberta Smith, Living and Working: Jason Polan, The New York Times
New York Times, Jason Polan Sketches A City In Perpetual Motion