Artist Statement - Quarter One

            Working with materials that have already been made is a daunting task. The intuition required to look at something, like a tricycle and a hula-hoop, and see something else in it, like a spine and rib cage, is very rare. It takes many people many years to be able to see something in a form that has already been made. Needless to say, when faced with the project of creating recycled art I was stumped. The options available and vagueness of the prompt was so elusive that simply narrowing the playing field was difficult. I tried and failed at many different styles of recycling. Plastics were too inconsistent; bike pieces and glass, too sharp. I didn’t know what to do.

            My project came about as I was sitting in a book room surrounded by, obviously, books. In a fit of temper I picked up the Encyclopaedia Britannica and chucked it at the opposing wall. As it slid to the ground the pages made a very delicate and interesting curl. I had seen pictures of other artists who had taken books and twisted and carved at the pages to make interesting wave patterns. I took inspiration and began tearing the pages out and curling them. The shapes and lines of the type were endlessly attractive and from there I built one loop on top of another. Fastened to a wooden rod the pages hung, reminiscent of water droplets.

            The project is not finished, to be honest. The form is lacking all of it’s body and the flow of the piece is not completely controlled. However, from what there is, the shapes, depth and interaction of all of the separate parts of this larger sculpture give an interesting feeling. There is a juxtaposition of hanging squared lines and weighted curved droplets that makes the sculpture almost whimsical.

            I can’t say that I’m incredibly proud of it. There was very little preparation and the inspiration was rash and almost ill-advised. I like the idea of what I wanted to do but the presentation of the idea left something to be desired. As I looked at it I nit-picked each flaw that I saw and attempted to remedy it with more paper loops. That caused the whole thing to become a little overwhelming and messy. I also feel that, given more time and a little more care, the project will turn out to be alright. It’s just not done yet.

            I know that my piece is not quite finished because when I look at it I imagine more and I can visualize more dimension and movement. Now, technically, all art work is a continual state of creation but there is an evident sense of incompletion. I want to add more volume in a couple places and include strips of paper that hang from the bottoms and edges in order to give the downward pulling motion a little more delicacy.

            Basically, I’m gonna finish it soon, but what I have now is pretty chill.