Studio: Sorting, Organizing, Labeling, Etc.

Light Impressions received way too much of my money today.

The many exhibition faces (and otherwise) of "Strange Artifacts: A Found Object and Photographic Wunderkammer" Part 2

Today I put away the last piece of the wunderkammer. Yesterday's post and this one are in homage to the many ways it's seen the light of day. Who knows whether or not it will be exhibited again? Maybe someday I'll have one of those retrospective "things."

Harold Jones took this photograph in July 2006 in my converted garage studio - the first ten pieces in the series that began in mass that summer (the 50th one was finished in January 2007). I was proud to show one of my grad school mentors that I was still making art!



A quick set-up around the half way point in the cold studio in Portland, Oregon. Fall 2006 (way too orderly):



When I wanted legit photographs (49 completed), I packed everything up and headed to Astoria, Oregon and the YMCA for walls that resembled a gallery In November 2006. If I only knew how to make a gif (kidding):



















Detail with identification numbers that were never used again (at the Y):



I converted the spare bedroom into a "bring everyone to my house and show them my art project space" in Portland, Oregon in February 2007. This image was taken moments before all the artwork was packed in preparation for my move to Indiana. I miss those yellow walls (though not with artwork).



That remarkably led to my Reed College Case Works exhibition in May 2007 and an entirely different method of installation. [I am in negotiation for an exhibition at Reed College in March so that is another reason why these images were unearthed and the wunderkammer is on my mind.]







Then it traveled to JCrist Gallery in Boise, Idaho in October 2007 (my favorite installation and a homecoming of sorts for JR):





Most recently, it was exhibited at the New Harmony Gallery of Art, New Harmony, Indiana May 2010 following the format above.



Boxing up the keys that were returned from New Harmony last month:



It numbers 45 (not 50) now residing in various closet shelves and floors in 8 different boxes. It was the one project that I sold one of a kind pieces from and to this day wonder if that was the right thing. Ah... what would sculptors do?

Wunderkammer Part 1: The Source

I am thinking about the wunderkammer these days. I received the box documenting all keys that were given to my father when he bought the YMCA in the mail (above) just last week; the last stray box before I pack up this series and put it to rest indefinitely. It was an important turning point for me due to the sheer amount of pieces (50). Rather than wondering how on earth I was going to store them, I decided to worry about that later and just make the work - ironically "later" is now.

The source of this imagery comes from "home" - that place that smells like kneaded erasers and WD-40. I am not a documentary photographer and find that I must have a hand in manipulating the subject matter to believe it is successful. Starting in the summer of 2008, I began to photograph the YMCA "Untouched." I picked up the camera again one year later documenting the changes. I always gravitate toward my Dad's easel and the drafting table in the studio. I wasn't able to go home in 2010 so maybe 2011 will bring some photographs of the drastic changes that have taken place since my last visit. I don't know what I am going to do with these photographs (if anything). They have resided on my laptop and very few people have seen them. It's their first public "outing" so to speak. These images remind me of the subjects I photographed when I took my first photography course in 1991. Maybe that's why they aren't spectacular. They haven't changed much at all.

And so... here is where the wunderkammer comes from .... August 2008:















August 2009:














Below are two of the wunderkammer objects featured in the photographs above - the original carved wooden head and the mannequins have always been most meaningful.

Bird Watching

One of the books I acquired last month was Paula McCartney's Bird Watching. It's one of the few exhibitions I saw this year where people (including me) were laughing out loud as we read the titles. The book itself represents a bird watching journal (in addition to the photographs, the entries include notes, migration patterns, a Life List as of December 2008, etc.). After the images my favorite part of this book is the State Birds list documenting where McCartney "spotted" the birds. Throughout all my time in Oregon, I never once saw a Cardinal though I wish I had.

Darius Himes states in his catalog essay: "...there are lots of real things in McCartney's images. For starters, those are really fake birds. The craft-store dummies - painted Styrofoam with dyed feathers - are out in that landscape because McCartney put them there while she was scrambling through the brush. I like that - she deserves to see a beautiful bird after doing all that work."

Why I am drawn to this work is obvious (though I didn't immediately recognize that fact until it was pointed out to me today): it's the illusion of what is real, the humor in the absurdity, and the unattainable aspect of seeing anything like this - so why not fake it? Fake birds, fake cakes... they aren't too different (at least they are both made from Styrofoam).