Eleanor Antin

Eleanor Antin

Eleanor Antin was born on February 27th, 1935 and is from New York. She attended a music and art school as an art major. She then went to the City College of New York where she studied philosophy and acting. She was in Actors equity, union for actors, and was registered under the name Eleanor Battett. She then returned to CCNY where she met David Antin, who she married in 1961. They moved from New York to Southern California where David began teaching at University of California. Meanwhile Eleanor taught at the University of California in Irvine, and then later moved to the University of California in San Diego. Her first work was called Blood of a poet box. It was a wooden box with 100 glass slides that contained blood specimens from 100 poets. The piece took three years to complete; it was supposed to represent the inner artist and how they would give nothing less then their blood to create something amazing. “I've always felt that narrative is as much of a human need as breathing," Antin said.” We’re constantly explaining ourselves and communicating in terms of putting material together that in some way has aspects of a story. And narrative is how we transform and change into different selves, into new places in our lives, and move back and forth.
Antin's claim‐to‐fame is her "100 Boots" installation project. The concept was simple and yet deeply insightful, especially when the boots were placed in the context of a scene that had meaning to the viewer. Some images were whimsical in nature, such as"100 Boots Go To Church," "100 Boots Enter The Museum," And "100 Boots On The Road. " Other images became metaphors for their time, allegories to the Vietnam War, Such as "100 Boots Facing The Sea," "100 Boots Out of a Job," and "100 Boots Out In the Street." Antin's primary promotional vehicle for "100 Boots" Was sending postcards to almost 1,000 global fans on her mailing list. A Postcard with a new"100 Boots” Image was sent every few weeks. A Total of 51...