Blinded
by a childhood accident, Hawkins Bolden began constructing assemblages out of
found materials in 1965 after his niece suggested he make scarecrows to keep
birds out of his family’s kitchen garden. Fashioned from discarded objects that
he collected from the streets and alleys of his Memphis neighborhood, Bolden’s
assemblages can be read as guardian figures and vitally expressive totems.

This
untitled sculpture is constructed from a single wooden branch, upon which the
artist fastened two wheels and scraps of carpet, which in the artist’s words
serve as “eyes” and “tongues.” While he wouldn’t have been able to see the colors of
each element, Bolden would have been keenly aware of the difference between the
man-made and natural elements of his sculpture.