Monday, September 26, 2011

Re-Visiting & Re-Purposing

Large scale installations constructed out of wooden elements lead to lots of wood scrap, and when your main painting ground is random wood scraps, that is a very good thing.  While I was cleaning studio recently, I found a project that I had started several years ago that is actually quite similar to the totems that I had started this spring.  Pieces of segmented 2x4 were shaped into blocks, painted in pastel and adorned with robot heads.  I would then stack them at random, allowing people to play with my work as they wished.

It is shocking to find that what you took a year to muddle through in an academic setting is actually something that you had already figured out and forgotten about.  Does this mean that I have actually thought of no new ideas while in school?  This is quite possible.  In fact it is beginning to seem quite probable.  As I know that I enjoy working, and have considerably in the last year and a half, I wonder what it is that I need to do to step out of this box that I have created for myself.

That all said, I enjoy this little box.   I don't think I am completely ready to leave yet.  These robot blocks are pretty great too. 
I think that this re-purposing is probably one of the most enjoyable parts of doing the work that I do.  My favorite question is probably, "well this is strange looking, what can I do with this?"  Oddly, now that I think about it, that may be an answer to a question that they have been badgering me about at school.  All the more reason to have a blog, I suppose.

I have also started working on the third piece for my Billboard project.  This one is a little more along the lines of what I was working on during the summer.  The pipes are interesting still, but I like the addition of some random color as well as moths and more sporadic hatching to move the viewer around the picture plane.




There will be more color eventually as well as more pieces added to make it fit the dimensions of the billboard better, but for now I am pleased to be working through a couple more issues with the whole process.

Stay up.
Peace
Mike




 

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