Lot Essay
In 1989, Robert Gober realized 'that he wanted "to do natural history dioramas about contemporary human beings"' (L. Biggs and J. Peyton-Jones, Robert Gober, London 1993, p. 7). This ambition was realized when Gober's highly acclaimed exhibition opened at the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York. A series of intimate, personal rooms were constructed in one of which Gober juxtaposed several editions of Cat Litter and Wedding Gown against a wallpapered room printed with repeated images of a sleeping man and a lynching. In an interview with Richard Flood, Gober recalls "The 'Cat Litter' I never saw as being that far a step from 'Wedding Gown'. I think people had a lot of problems making the connection between the cat litter and the dress, whereas for me, the cat litter was to a large degree a metaphor for a couple's intimacy--that when you make a commitment to an intimate relationship, that involves taking care of that other person's body in sickness and in health. If I had chosen to do a box of diapers, which is an equivalent of a bag of cat litter, it would have been obvious. But because I was juxtaposing a low symbol with a high symbol and a deflated symbol with an inflated one, people had a very hard time reconciling the two, and they had a hard time, I think seeing that I could be connecting the two with some respect" (R. Flood, Robert Gober, London 1993, p. 10).