Snow Cave
A site-specific installation: steel wire, laminate
tiles, latex paint, wall drawing
(perforations), cast shadows. 8'(hight) x 12'(width) x 5'(max depth).
Snow Cave was created for Object, No Object: Sculpture
of Ideas, an invitational exhibit at the Fort Collins
Museum of Art, Dec 3, 2010. Curated by FRCC Museum and Gallery
Studies.
In
keeping with the premise of the exhibit, this was both literally and
metaphorically an ephemeral piece: a delicate "shelter" built out of
wire, dotted lines and shadows. As with previous installations, it
existed only for the duration of the show, a particularly short
lifespan in this case (exhibited for a single day). In common with
previous works too, the piece took its shape in response to the
conditions and constraints of the exhibition space. This space, a
classroom in the basement of FCMOCA, had some eccentricities (i.e., the
corner I'm using butts up against a kitchen counter)- but I like
eccentricities. Encountering awkward arrangements forces problem
solving, and this spurs novel approaches in my art making. There was
some give-and-take: I took the cabinetry hardware off to make the
structure more neutral, but found I liked the way the cast shadows from
my piece wrapped around the face of the kitchen cabinets. I found
that leaving the sink visible was less obtrusive than boxing it in, so
it became an accidental humorous note- a domestic reference?
Although it's always a factor, I think this piece in particular
foregrounds the dependence of my work upon found spaces. I think it
raises hitherto neglected questions about where my piece ends and
where the architecture of the exhibition space starts. In this
instance, I like the boxy shape of the cabinets and the rectangular
niche where a window used to be- and I've utilized (or appropriated?)
both.
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