September 15th - October 1st 2010
The following is the text that accompanied the show. Please read and leave comments. It was a difficult location to reach so I am trying to create an online experience.
Artist Statement: Work in Progress
The exhibit of works in this show is a collection of objects that I spent the last six months creating. The work is about cycles in an artists practice as well as in nature. The main themes of the work consist of environmentalism, recycling and the art historical.
Every artist must accept that a good amount of art was made before they came along. Along with this work many artists had practices that helped to define the art historical and in reaction critics helped to define these movements. In the present tense, contemporary artists are capable of drawing upon these movements and through a combination of context, positioning and their own perspective are able to create work that helps to describe their times and who they are as artists.
I began this work with the intention of returning to basics, the hand made object, the creation of something original. In my earlier work I used found images to make narrative work in the form of collage with paint. I continued this trend by re-purposing the objects that have been discarded and using their basic parts reconstructed them back into a useful object.
As an artist I am compelled to think and create. Every moment of the day is spent thinking and acting towards this end. Items that I have had for years suddenly fill in the gap that creates a whole, a set of table legs find new purpose, a table top becomes the spine for a new piece of furniture.
As a painter I have been creating work on panels for the last six years. In order to make sure that I could afford to keep working I had to teach myself how to build them on my own. The first panel that I made was so warped would not even sit on the wall straight. It was a large learning curve. I learned through that experience that although the first step is the roughest it becomes easier and easier with discipline and conditioning. The panels that I have hanging around the room is a testament to all the work that I have made in the past that now resides in the possession of other people, the work that I will create and all the time that I spent learning how to make them. Now I can create twenty-odd panels without any mistakes, they all hang flat on the wall.
The large painting on the wall, which is titled Suomi was created by choosing images from a picture book of Finland. In the past I would use images directly from the book and combine them on a panel, the painting being on paper and so large made it impossible to do this. Instead I chose the best images and combined them. The creation of a work of art without actually cutting out the images is an important step from the concrete to the conceptual where the ideas become something that I edit, cut and recombine. Ideas drawn from the art historical now become elements that are combined, edited and cut.
Wall Works
The two framed glass works stand out among the panels hung on the wall. The first has two pictures. A space that was lent to me to make work in had an old entertainment unit from the 70’s. It was destined to end up in the landfill. As I worked to collect furniture, taking the pieces apart and studying the way that they were put together I found that the more recent the pieces the less real wood they contained. The unit that was destined for the garbage only had one real piece of wood on it. The trim along the top of the unit was taken, cut down and turned into the frame, fitted with glass and photos of the unit.
The second framed work is a small collage that failed, the perspective was off so it sat on a shelf never making it to the paint stage. The paper surrounding it is a very expensive archival wrap normally put onto paintings to protect them during transport and storage. I have recycled it and repurposed it to cover over the failure. What I am attempting is to reclaim the time that I put into the piece, even a failure is a success in as much as it taught me something and I take that with me.
Studio Furniture
The three pieces of furniture are the culmination of many hours of contemplation on the use of materials, building styles and collage. The first is a cabinet. Over three years ago I pulled an old wardrobe from the garbage. I shuffled it around from place to place trying to decide what to do with it. When I first began making plans to create the furniture a studio cabinet to hold materials and drawings materialized. I found drawers from a wooden office desk and built them in. During the night of the opening I will install the glass door finishing the piece.
The table was originally designed in reaction to the arts and crafts movement of the late 19th century. I was given a solid maple kitchen table and I moved it many times saving it and trying to figure out what to do with it. After doing research on the movement I was inspired to make my own. The learning curve was huge but added to my success in the end. Every time I take a chance I learn more.
The last piece of furniture is the dressing screen. A staple of most arts and craft collections the dressing screen was an interpretation of orientalism which had a profound influence on the design and architecture of the period. The arts and craft movment were inspired by the Japanese printmaking masters (ukiyo-e) in the same way that impressionists were influenced. I left it blank except for the one side on one panel, which contains multiple sheets of carbon copy paper, the method that I would use to transfer the image of my choice flawlessly to the panel to prepare it for a painting. The screen itself is a small story in the development of my wood working abilities through the learning curve and trial and error. The first panel, poorly made leads to a better one and so on so forth till the final panel is almost perfect. This is the one that I deem suitable for adornment through paint. The first art medium that I attained a significant skill in is how I bless the best of my pieces.
Crated Painting
My day job allows me to look at art all the time. I hang the art, transport it and care for it. I do not spend a majority of that time appreciating it. Instead I spend time looking at the back, seeing how it was made and getting ready to hang it on the wall or install it in the gallery. The two pieces hung together help to convey that part of my day job and how it affects my art practice. The small famed work is turned around, where you would normally find the name or the hanging hardware is where the paint and collage reside. The second piece is rested against the lid of the crate where it is waiting to be hung. The crate is also made from recycled art at an attempt to communicate that nothing is wasted in the creation of work.
Sculpture
The sculpture in the space is material that I have collected but has not yet been put to purpose. These pieces will float until they have a destination and will become something new. I may not necessarily use them as furniture but will eventually use them for something as my practice continues to change and evolve. The sculpture is a sign that I feel free to express myself however I want.
Practice
Through the course of the creation of these objects I have realized an important truth. That is not important what I make at this point in my art practice but how I am making it, its importance and its meaning to me as an artist. It is important that I keep making work. Its final form is unimportant. A product is not important. The act of creation is its own reason.
