Device to Root Out Evil 1997

Dennis Oppenheim's 'Device to Root Out Evil' stands, or rather, inverts, our expectations of the familiar. Imagine the artist playing with perspective like a child with a toy house, turning it upside down to expose its underbelly! The house—a universal symbol of shelter, family, and the self—is turned on its head, its pointy roof burrowing into the earth. Those windows, usually portals to the world, now gaze back into the ground. The shingles, usually protecting us from the elements, now seem vulnerable. Oppenheim is rooting around, like a pig, trying to find the truth. And what is that? The instability of meaning, the precariousness of our values, or maybe it's just a good, dark laugh? It reminds me of Fluxus artists who had a great sense of humor, and also Bruce Nauman's clown heads. The artwork stands as a reminder that art, like life, is often best understood when viewed from an unexpected angle.