Monday, April 25, 2011
now that it's all done
while de-installing my show was sad, it's also nice to know that it's all over, even if i may never have another show again. it was fun to watch and help group 2 install, to add any advice i had learned from my experience as well as it being nice to not have to stress about it anymore. i can't wait for the next opening so that the rest of the class can join us in being done with all the preparations and hustle and bustle of the last 2 months. in less than a month most of us will have graduated and while some of us are moving back home with our parents, and others are moving onto new exciting chapters in our lives, i know that i'm going to miss the little family i've grown to love and appreciate these last 4 years at csb and lab.
installation
installation seemed like it was going to be a cut and dry process. but, halfway through building my light table pedestals, i threw my back out and was bed ridden for part of the install time. thankfully i managed to grimace through it and bang it out. installation itself didn't take too much time as it was simply moving everything, assembling it all and plugging it in and taping down the cords. last minute adjustments were made but i'm really happy with the way everything turned out. i think the display looked nice, and especially in the room i was in, i thought my pieces in the center brought the room together. with the black and whites of bryan mcginn and nikki fenton's pieces trying together with my black and white pedestals, as well as the black and white and color used in cat trestini and dylan savoca's works, and the colors used in jeffrey villanueva's painting also paralleled with my color palette. i thought there was enough room to navigate the room as well as appreciate all the work in it and the adjoining rooms.
in the end, i really wouldn't have changed too many things about it all, except that if i'd been capable of walking, i would've put more time intot he light tables to make them cleaner for the presentation, but even so, i'm happy with the way everything worked out.
in the end, i really wouldn't have changed too many things about it all, except that if i'd been capable of walking, i would've put more time intot he light tables to make them cleaner for the presentation, but even so, i'm happy with the way everything worked out.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
oh great
well, while there is good news, my projects have progressed nicely and were looking like they were going to be finished way before spring break, and i would have plenty of time to work out installation. however, my right along schedule came to an abrupt halt when i found out that there is no longer any resin at LAB and there won't be an order made until spring break, so basically, i have no material to finish my thesis. awesome. the specific type of resin we use is on backorder and i'm in the middle of 3 pours that need the same resin to be finished. now i have to either spend time and/or money trying to find more of this resin before it's too late, or compromise my work to declare them finished and installable prematurely.
i am not happy.
i am not happy.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
spring '11 crossing the divide between LAB and CSB
while a lot of work loses something when seen only in pictorial form, i feel that my work and the work of the 2 or so other sculptors in the class suffer more as our studios and therefore the majority of our work, is across the river on livingston. i would bring it to class to show my critique group, but it would interrupt my process as well probably damage my pieces and finding transportation is not at all easy. so, in lieu of the real deal, here are some pictures and drawings that i can only hope give some inkling of insight into my work.
following the similar trend from the mgsa water show, i am working on a series of resin pours that play with size, shape, form, color, translucency and light.
water show closeups:
i have been playing with these ideas for a while now and here are some earlier pieces that correlate:
what i found through playing with resin and color over the past 2 years, is that light plays an integral role in the pieces. i have a lot of smaller pieces that people like to handle and see in different angles and with various light sources behind them. as these will be displayed in a gallery setting, and these shows are always very crowded with family members and a lot of times, young children and siblings, having delicate pieces that will be overly handled at the show, did not strike me as something desirable. therefore, after watching how people interact with the work, i have taken what i found to be the more important aspect of the work, light, and add it myself. this provides the viewer with something desirable and a new way of viewing the work, without the over handling, and possibilities of disaster.
as of right now, i have one large piece completely poured and several others in process, as well as a few smaller pieces that i may or may not include in my final presentation. each of these forms are cast in similar ways but using different materials and object to create different forms in the resin; as well a variety of colors, so that no two pieces are ever exactly the same. these are also made over the course a couple of weeks usually if not a month or two as they have to be poured in layers.
here are some photos of the current work:
as i would eventually like all of these pieces to be displayed on light tables, here is a picture of the first completed large piece, on a light table to show the effect it gives:
following the similar trend from the mgsa water show, i am working on a series of resin pours that play with size, shape, form, color, translucency and light.
water show closeups:
i have been playing with these ideas for a while now and here are some earlier pieces that correlate:
what i found through playing with resin and color over the past 2 years, is that light plays an integral role in the pieces. i have a lot of smaller pieces that people like to handle and see in different angles and with various light sources behind them. as these will be displayed in a gallery setting, and these shows are always very crowded with family members and a lot of times, young children and siblings, having delicate pieces that will be overly handled at the show, did not strike me as something desirable. therefore, after watching how people interact with the work, i have taken what i found to be the more important aspect of the work, light, and add it myself. this provides the viewer with something desirable and a new way of viewing the work, without the over handling, and possibilities of disaster.
as of right now, i have one large piece completely poured and several others in process, as well as a few smaller pieces that i may or may not include in my final presentation. each of these forms are cast in similar ways but using different materials and object to create different forms in the resin; as well a variety of colors, so that no two pieces are ever exactly the same. these are also made over the course a couple of weeks usually if not a month or two as they have to be poured in layers.
here are some photos of the current work:
as i would eventually like all of these pieces to be displayed on light tables, here is a picture of the first completed large piece, on a light table to show the effect it gives:
Friday, December 10, 2010
you are here i am....indeed
The Mason Gross Annual MFA show which opened in November this fall, featured work of the first year grad students at the school. While i found, like in many combination shows, a lack of unity in the work, as well as varying levels of interest about them. Some works i found to be impressive or substantial while others i could have done without.
Walking into the gallery, one first encounters Max Cemano's sculpture of a decapitated boar fountain. Not only is this a somewhat shocking and horrifying image in itself, the fountain uses a red liquid that gives the impression of blood. The stream flows into a large black oil drum. I had seen Max's original idea for this when it was still in sketch form, and i enjoyed seeing the changes made during its realization. He chose to leave certain parts of the inner workings of the fountain visible in its construction. The back shows the tubing for the 'blood' and in the boars mouth, one can also see the tube, and the attachment spout. What i found to be most interesting about his installation was how it changed over time. from the time the show was installed, to the opening reception, the constant flow of the fountain had produced a splatter effect of dried 'blood' on the floor around the sculpture. this added the element of time and its long term effects that would not have been noticeable in the original viewing. i do not know if this was something the artist had anticipated, but i would be curious to learn his feelings on the matter.
Max also had another sculpture, a cast of a shark that he then painted in a design similar to art on old bomber planes in World War II. He has used this design on other works of his that i have seen in his studio. He has a collection of butterflies that have been recolored with the fame grinning pattern.
These definitely drew attention, but they also were made using subdued colors and therefore could exist in the center of the room and attract attention and be in coexistence with the rest of the work on the walls. The other work used brighter colors and different styles so it worked well.
In one of the back rooms is an installation of Ryan Soper's. This is made out of the building material Tyvek and is a general 'tent' form that can be entered by the viewer. inside, are a light and strange objects constructed of various plastic materials. These also involve zippers and Velcro and use bright colors: red, yellow. With the blue lettering on the white exterior and the black detailing on the objects inside, it is visually pleasing with the simple primary colors and black and white. this was interesting to me, but it seems like it's almost trying to hard or something. it reads to me like it was made to be somewhat of an enigma and have a certain 'look' that can be seen in some contemporary sculptor's work. It did work well in the room with the other installation, as it was contained in itself so they could be in their own right in spite of the close proximity.
Finally, in the video room was the video and installation by Stefanos Milkidis. His piece was a large cinder block tunnel, in the low lit room. Upon first encountering it, the viewer would think that it is a solid block, but the video shows footage taken from what appears to be the top of the 'block' and one can see that not only is there hollow space in the middle, but also, in the videos are people contained in the structure. This at first can prompt the viewer to question whether anyone is currently trapped inside, as the blocks are tall enough that without the aide of a ladder, you couldn't check. I found it have a cold, hard feel it. the low lighting and the gray, rough bricks had a physical presence. i felt, contained, small and kind of helpless. i felt empathy for the figures inside, as there's no audio on the video so you can't get a feel for how the people contained feel. The blocks have a weight to them, besides there physical weight. their towering presence in combination with the knowledge that people have been contained inside gives it that.
I really enjoyed the installation in the first room to the left. it had beautiful colors as well as pleasing forms. the flow of stones on the floor as well as the udder-like plunger hanging piece forced the viewer to interact with the room around them. I also enjoyed the work in the room before the video room. these were everyday farming tools, a shovel and a pitchfork, but juxtaposed with alterations. The pitchfork's 'forks' were extended an extra couple of feet, to the point that the forks lie flat on the ground, and the wooden handle is supported in space. the shovel, installed in the corner, has a handle made of a fluorescent light tube. These remind me of work by Charles Ray [the pitchfork] and also Dan Flavin [the shovel].
Walking into the gallery, one first encounters Max Cemano's sculpture of a decapitated boar fountain. Not only is this a somewhat shocking and horrifying image in itself, the fountain uses a red liquid that gives the impression of blood. The stream flows into a large black oil drum. I had seen Max's original idea for this when it was still in sketch form, and i enjoyed seeing the changes made during its realization. He chose to leave certain parts of the inner workings of the fountain visible in its construction. The back shows the tubing for the 'blood' and in the boars mouth, one can also see the tube, and the attachment spout. What i found to be most interesting about his installation was how it changed over time. from the time the show was installed, to the opening reception, the constant flow of the fountain had produced a splatter effect of dried 'blood' on the floor around the sculpture. this added the element of time and its long term effects that would not have been noticeable in the original viewing. i do not know if this was something the artist had anticipated, but i would be curious to learn his feelings on the matter.
Max also had another sculpture, a cast of a shark that he then painted in a design similar to art on old bomber planes in World War II. He has used this design on other works of his that i have seen in his studio. He has a collection of butterflies that have been recolored with the fame grinning pattern.
These definitely drew attention, but they also were made using subdued colors and therefore could exist in the center of the room and attract attention and be in coexistence with the rest of the work on the walls. The other work used brighter colors and different styles so it worked well.
In one of the back rooms is an installation of Ryan Soper's. This is made out of the building material Tyvek and is a general 'tent' form that can be entered by the viewer. inside, are a light and strange objects constructed of various plastic materials. These also involve zippers and Velcro and use bright colors: red, yellow. With the blue lettering on the white exterior and the black detailing on the objects inside, it is visually pleasing with the simple primary colors and black and white. this was interesting to me, but it seems like it's almost trying to hard or something. it reads to me like it was made to be somewhat of an enigma and have a certain 'look' that can be seen in some contemporary sculptor's work. It did work well in the room with the other installation, as it was contained in itself so they could be in their own right in spite of the close proximity.
Finally, in the video room was the video and installation by Stefanos Milkidis. His piece was a large cinder block tunnel, in the low lit room. Upon first encountering it, the viewer would think that it is a solid block, but the video shows footage taken from what appears to be the top of the 'block' and one can see that not only is there hollow space in the middle, but also, in the videos are people contained in the structure. This at first can prompt the viewer to question whether anyone is currently trapped inside, as the blocks are tall enough that without the aide of a ladder, you couldn't check. I found it have a cold, hard feel it. the low lighting and the gray, rough bricks had a physical presence. i felt, contained, small and kind of helpless. i felt empathy for the figures inside, as there's no audio on the video so you can't get a feel for how the people contained feel. The blocks have a weight to them, besides there physical weight. their towering presence in combination with the knowledge that people have been contained inside gives it that.
I really enjoyed the installation in the first room to the left. it had beautiful colors as well as pleasing forms. the flow of stones on the floor as well as the udder-like plunger hanging piece forced the viewer to interact with the room around them. I also enjoyed the work in the room before the video room. these were everyday farming tools, a shovel and a pitchfork, but juxtaposed with alterations. The pitchfork's 'forks' were extended an extra couple of feet, to the point that the forks lie flat on the ground, and the wooden handle is supported in space. the shovel, installed in the corner, has a handle made of a fluorescent light tube. These remind me of work by Charles Ray [the pitchfork] and also Dan Flavin [the shovel].
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
work at home
over the last week or so, i had been keeping myself busy at home when i couldn't get to livingston to work in my studio. in doing so, i started to create these strange amorphous cardboard structures, composed simply of cut cardboard and hot glue. i'm not sure what my plans for them are at the moment, but i would either like to join them and create one very large form or make several forms of different sizes. for this process, i have not been trying to direct the process, but rather, to let the process direct what i create. i'm adding to them just as i have been since i began them, adding cardboard to areas that need to be built up, with a piece that seems to fit well from the pieces i had cut beforehand.
i moved them to LAB over the weekend, as they are growing exponentially and wanted to get them to an area where i could better work on them, before i couldn't transport them easily. i also have access to better hot glue guns there, to expedite the process.
design and observations
i have also been drawing/sketching/looking at/thinking about patterns. whether created or found in nature, abstract, geometric, or composed of fractals. a lot of these have to do with expanding and contracting, as well as ratios, specifically (fractal-wise) concerning the golden ratio or golden spiral.
i also tend to find inspiration in things i see in my travels. yesterday i came across this on livingston and had to document it. it seemed to me to be straight out of dr. suess's the lorax.
i also tend to find inspiration in things i see in my travels. yesterday i came across this on livingston and had to document it. it seemed to me to be straight out of dr. suess's the lorax.
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