James Holmes (American, 20th/21st C.) "Mummy Wrench," custom wood coffin with lizard on lid and on lizard legs, containing a wrench in a gauze mummy wrapping. Size: 5'' x 20'' x 10'' (13 x 51 x 25 cm). Provenance: The Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection. Artist Biography: Holmes’ subject matter is compelling, and so is his use of materials, a mix of rough-hewn and polished wood, copper, aluminum, lead, linoleum, family photographs, and other media that give his works a steampunk-meets-Western art aesthetic. But Holmes toys with our expectations. He renders familiar objects and scenes from a skewed perspective, adds unexpected elements, or layers pieces with milagros and other small enigmatic trinkets to provide symbolic weight and coded meaning, as in his witchy and darkly comic Conquistador Dunce Cap. A thread of humor runs through the work.

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