Title:
Fur Rat
Creator/Contributor:
Joan Brown (artist)
Date:
1962
Identifier:
1970.5
Format:
Gift of the artist
Like other artists of San Francisco's Beat movement, Brown's work of the late 1950s and early 1960s incorporates everyday
materials assembled into new and provocative forms.
"'Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we will die' is the attitude which was prevalent at the time," said Brown. "There
was a rebellion against the slicker materials [and] a delight taken in using rattier materials. The rattier the better."
Here, Brown has covered a wooden armature with fur from an old fur coat to depict an oversized rat with a menacing tail-an
image from one of her dreams.