Bruce Conner, Go Ask Tucker
Bruce Conner was born in 1933 in McPherson, Kansas. He studied at the University of Wichita (1951-52), transferred to the University of Nebraska where he earned a B.F.A. in 1955, and moved to New York for further study at the Brooklyn Museum's art school. Eventually he settled in San Francisco, where his avant-garde artistic vision was provided an excellent setting. Conner's voracious creativity was exercised in a variety of forms such as dance, film, photography, drawing, collage, and assemblage.
Go Ask Tucker is an assemblage created during a period when Conner left San Francisco to reside in Mexico, 1961-62. At first glance the imagery seems macabre, perhaps due to the bits of fur on the surface and the mottled palette. However, with patience, the work's content reveals itself to the viewer through Conner's complex visual language. A circular form in the top center may allude to a Native American "dream-catcher," or some other such protective enclosure. Broken fragments of leaves seem to refer to the natural world. This is sharply contrasted by the small can of salsa that perches on the top of the assemblage, attached to the work with a string as though a primitive communication device for making calls from a "telephone can." A mysterious image of a ventriloquist with his puppet is made even stranger by the fact that his mouth is covered up and laced shut, silencing him. A commercial poster which comprises part of the surface reads "Ask Tucker; He Knows Everything."
This work might be variously interpreted, however it is certain that Conner was extremely concerned with communication and the disruption, distortion, and prevention of the free circulation of ideas. After the 1960s, Conner no longer worked in assemblage, but turned his attention to other media. As a result, examples of his work are highly sought after by modern and contemporary art museums and high level collectors. Furthermore, assemblages from Conner's Mexican period are scarce. Due to the de Saisset Museum's forward-looking Advisory Board and the leadership of donors such as Robert J. Prentice, M.D., we are exceptionally fortunate to own this superb example of Bruce Conner's work in assemblage.