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Totems, and other assemblages (1986-present)

Totems, and other assemblages (1986-present)

Beginning with the long-held belief in the connectedness of all things, these works acknowledge the connections, presenting linkage between the personal and the political, investigating our place in the wider world. From 1986 to the present, much of my work has taken the form of photographic assemblage. These large-scale works draw together disparate images into a larger whole, metaphorically exploring themes of the political and the personal. A comprehensive consideration of this work- "Lewis Koch: Totems and other Photo-assemblage" by art historian James Hugunin: http://www.uturn.org/Reviews/KochTotems.pdf The illustrated essay is also available in a bound print-on-demand edition: (hardcover-) https://www.blurb.com/b/10240653-lewis-koch-totems-and-other-photo-assemblage-hard, or (softcover-) https://www.blurb.com/b/10240587-lewis-koch-totems-and-other-photo-assemblage-soft

Photos
39
Status
Public
Created
Oct 11, 2016
Updated
Jul 25, 2025
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Tags
#Totems #Assemblage #Social Critique #Militarism #Black And White

Photos (39)

Tangled Web Totem, 1994
File: Tangled Web, inst view.jpg
Cover
"osaycanyousee" installation (partial view), Wright Museum of Art, Beloit, WI, 2008, including "Half-flag" (left), "Tangled Web Totem" (center), "Bush sucks" (right)
File: LK, WMA partial inst view, low-res.jpg
Totem of Unmeasurable Memory, 1995
File: Koch, Unmeasurable Memory, REV.tif
Totem of Unmeasurable Memory: detail (Paris)
File: Unm Memory-detail 1, Paris.jpg
Totem of Unmeasurable Memory: detail (Dachau)
File: Unm Memory-detail 2, Dachau.jpg
Amnesioid, 1994
File: Amnesioid.jpg
Fossil Time Totem, 1992 (left); Amnesioid, 1994 (center); Tangled Web Totem, 1994 (right)
File: assbl inst view-3.jpg
False Profit Totem, 1994
File: False Profit Totem.jpg
False Profit Totem: detail (NYC)
File: FPT-buddha-dollars.jpg
False Profit Totem: detail (Prague)
File: FPT, single-Prague.jpg
Thread of Life, 1995
File: Thread of Life.jpg
Thread of Life: detail (Budapest)
File: ToL-single, Budapest.jpg
Thread of Life: detail (Tristan Tzara text, from "When things dream")
File: 43xTzaratext-closeup.tif
Tar Pit Totem, 1994
File: DSCF3424-rev.JPG
Blind Justice: The Supreme Court, 1987
File: LK, Blind Justice.jpg
Blind Justice: detail (Roman statuette, Glyptotek, Copenhagen)
File: LKoch, Roman statuette, Kbh.jpg
Blind Justice: detail (Roman bust, Glyptotek, Copenhagen)
File: LK, Roman bust.jpg
Readings-1: World of War, 2003
File: Readings-1 (World of War).jpg
World of War: detail (small town Vietnam War memorial)
File: 09-Readings1.Viet names.jpg
World of War: detail (Minocqua, WI)
File: 05-Readings1.?.jpg
World of War: detail (Honour, Dallas, TX), also in Transatlantic Dreamcycle (via Eurovision)
File: 14-Readings1.honour.jpg
Transatlantic Dreamcycle (via Eurovision) (16 prints, 103 x 146 in., 1989), installation view, from "Confessions of an Animist", a monographic exhibition at Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark, 1991.
File: 19x-33xTDinst, low-res.tif
Transatlantic Dreamcycle (via Eurovision): detail (House of Dreams)
File: 19x-33xhouseofdreams, low-res.tif
Transatlantic Dreamcycle (via Eurovision): detail (hanging bucket)
File: 19x-33xbucket, low-res.tif
Transatlantic Dreamcycle (via Eurovision): detail (billboard, also in "Touchless Automatic Wonder," 2009)
File: 19billboard, low-res.tif
Slender Thread Totem, 1986 (left); Dream Portal: The Manifestations, 1992
File: Koch, STT & Dream Portal.jpg
Dream Portal: detail (hydroglyph-self)
File: LKoch-8824.13, from Dream Portal.jpg
Dream Portal: detail (shadow-self)
File: L Koch-shadow-self.jpg
Dream Portal: detail (DP chairs)
File: LK- DP chairs.jpg
Broken Oval (for R.L.), 1989,
File: Broken Oval (for RL).jpg
Totem Pole, 1986 (first totem in a series of 12)
File: First LK totem, 1986-cr.jpg
Surplus Koan Totem, 1991 (also Totembooks, Book Two, Nexus Press Atlanta, 1993)
File: SKT-cr.tif
Slender Thread Totem, 1991 (also Totembooks, Book Three, Nexus Press Atlanta, 1993)
File: STT, med-res.jpg
Bestiary : Quartet, 1991
File: B-Q, 1991 flat.jpg
Cumulus, 2004
File: LK, Cumulus, 2004.jpg
Cumulus: detail (bust of Stalin)
File: LK, Stalin.jpg
Cumulus: detail (Statue of Liberty, NYC harbor)
File: LK-Statue of Liberty.jpg
Cumulus: detail (floating Elvis)
File: LK, floating Elvis.jpg
Essay by James R. Hugunin, U-Turn Monograph Series, 2020,
File: JH t-essay, cover.jpg