Conservation at Hugh Lane Gallery

Meet Reuben Ruxton, Conservation Intern at Hugh Lane Gallery and Natalia Macro, Research Scientist from the National Gallery of Ireland.
Did you know? Hugh Lane Gallery is the only conservation studio in Ireland dedicated to modern and contemporary art.
This project is based on the conservation of the mixed media artwork "Drawing for Tank" by Edward and Nancy Kienholz. This phase of the project involved deep research and analysis in order to determine the methodology for conserving this artwork. Funded by The Heritage Council of Ireland, in partnership with the National Gallery of Ireland. Drawing from Tank is one of the related accompanying tableaux for the life-size walk-in carousel Merry-Go-World exhibited at Hugh Lane Gallery in 1996.
Its subject- matter is life's lottery and the unequal distribution of the world's wealth. The viewer had to spin a wheel of fortune to gain admission. Inside were eight possible life scenarios, one of which lit up when the wheel ceased to spin. It is a wall mounted assemblage of photographs and found objects that tell the story of a young black girl in Houston called Tank who lived with her mother in a "shotgun" house - so-called because of the double barrel effect of porch and window. The disorderly kitchen sink assemblage overseen by a mini wheel of fortune boding a variety of potential outcomes for the young girl, from "career" and "success" to "welfare" and "dropout".