Conceptually most of my work deals with contrasts of light and dark. I try to play this out by using bright colors and dark grays and blacks. This may not play out within the same piece, and often times one work may make use of bright colors to be contrasted with a separate piece that is darker. In this way the overall concept of my work is best seen within the context of several pieces.

If there is one theme that comes up consistently within my works it is the struggle to make sense of things. Specifically the subject of hopelessness, and sometimes this is explored in the comical sense. It is a theme that started appearing within my writings, and I don’t believe this is necessarily intentional on my part. It is merely the direction that the whole of my work seems to be going and is something that is more pointed out to me by those viewing the work than anything I necessarily plan out.

Approaching the fragment.

Getting closer to the fragment.

The details becoming visible.

A rendered sketch of the room.

The room fragment would appear like the corner of a cell, with an aged appearance, would have writing on the walls.  The writings would be an almost nonsensical rant, and would give the impression that you are in the fragment of a cell in an insane asylum.  The light would come from an overhead florescent light, the top of which would be painted with light dampening materials to give it an appearance of almost free floating, which would have an occasional flicker programmed in.  There would also be a sink in the room with water over flowing (the water would actually be a sculpture) that is frozen in place.  It would be as if the room is stuck in one single second of time, and there would be a small hidden speaker that would play the sounds of water splashing; the sound would be faint and because of the sound dampening materials would not escape far from the room.

The Aim of the Project: I want to present a moment in time as a fragment of someone’s mind.  The person would be made to walk to the center of a large room in almost complete darkness.  All they would be able to see is this small object, and as they approach it would be like visiting a memory of someone else.  I want to create an experience that is almost dream like, and would be visiting a part of a memory without any context to make sense of it.

The Need: The proposed work would exist as art that people would directly interact with.  They would exist within it, and change it slightly over time, as much of the room itself would not have restrictions on people touching the sheets of the bed, touching the wall.  I believe the need is to present more than just a passive piece of art, but to elevate art to a level in which while initially created be one person it is recreate through human interaction.

The Site: The site would have to be a large room that would allow for at least the illusion of be in a vast space, which is to say that the actual space used for the exhibit doesn’t have to be very large as long as those going into view it believe that they are walking into a vast room.  If the use of the sound and light absorbing materials is done correctly those viewing it will have no real measure of size and will allow their minds to piece the rest together.

Materials: The room fragment can be constructed out of the materials used to create any home construction.  The modifications to the hosting room would require specialized materials, mainly light absorbing sheets material used often in photography and the use of sound absorbing materials that are often used to simulate a optimal acoustic environment.

Budget: At this time the budget is really unknown, but I would imagine we are looking at the above $10,000 cost; honestly it may be highly expensive depending upon the venue given that a 48” x 48” sheet of the sound absorbing material averages around $350 for 20 is ordered in bulk.  The light absorbing material would cost around $150 for around 50.  The difficulty will be in finding a non-reflective cover for the floor, and that will require experimentation.

Timeline: Given the nature of the construction, and the amount of testing of the materials to get it right; the building of the work could take months to set up.  As for how long it would remain, I really wouldn’t expect any venue to keep it for too long, as it would take up valuable space.  I would say about 1-2 months to set up and test such an artwork, and at least 6 months commitment would be expected from a venue that wished to host it given the interactive nature of the work and a desire to allow many people to experience it.

Influence: I would say my primary influence for this proposed piece would be How it Is by Miroslaw Balka, which is a large black room in which there is nothing.  I am very into this idea of interaction and the exploration of the unknown by those who do the interacting.

"How it is" from the front.

Inside?

The room fragment would appear like the corner of a cell, with an aged appearance, would have writing on the walls.  The writings would be an almost nonsensical rant, and would give the impression that you are in the fragment of a cell in an insane asylum.  The light would come from an overhead florescent light, the top of which would be painted with light dampening materials to give it an appearance of almost free floating, which would have an occasional flicker programmed in.  There would also be a sink in the room with water over flowing (the water would actually be a sculpture) that is frozen in place.  It would be as if the room is stuck in one single second of time, and there would be a small hidden speaker that would play the sounds of water splashing; the sound would be faint and because of the sound dampening materials would not escape far from the room.

The Aim of the Project: I want to present a moment in time as a fragment of someone’s mind.  The person would be made to walk to the center of a large room in almost complete darkness.  All they would be able to see is this small object, and as they approach it would be like visiting a memory of someone else.  I want to create an experience that is almost dream like, and would be visiting a part of a memory without any context to make sense of it.

The Need: The proposed work would exist a art that people would directly interact with.  They would exist within it, and change it slightly over time, as much of the room itself would not have restrictions on people touching the sheets of the bed, touching the wall.  I believe the need is to present more than just a passive piece of art, but to elevate art to a level in which while initially created be one person it is recreate through human interaction.

The Site: There is no 100% requirement for any one site.  The only thing that is necessary is for the work to be housed in a rather large room, gym size even.  The other issue is that the room has to be modified to allow no light in, be painted with dark paints and have acoustic tiles and such placed everywhere.

Materials: The room fragment can be constructed out of the materials used to create any home construction.  The modifications to the hosting room would require specialized materials, which I have to further research.

Budget: At this time the budget is really unknown, but I would imagine we are looking at the above $10,000 cost; honestly it may be highly expensive.  Further research is needed.

Timeline: Given the nature of the construction, and the amount of testing of the materials to get it right; the building of the work could take months to set up.  As for how long it would remain, I really wouldn’t expect any venue to keep it for too long as it would take up valuable space.  I would say about 1-2 months to set up and test such an art work, and at least 6 months commitment would be expected from a venue who wished to host it given the interactive nature of the work and a desire to allow many people to experience it.

Influence: I would say my primary influence for this proposed piece would be How it Is by Miroslaw Balka, which is a large black room in which there is nothing.  I am very into this idea of interaction and the exploration of the unknown by those who do the interacting.

The initial response is to view it as a flag, and the text is quickly read through.  It is when looking at the blue section of the flag in which the meaning is drawn together.  In the work there is no direct reference to any particular group or person, but the viewer would contruct the group that they believe are guilty of some of those things that could be viewed as contemptable.  In fact in many ways this work and the reaction one has to it is sort of a litmus test for where you really fall in the society.

Personally I find his work makes me think about many of the more “banal” things in my life in a different way, which is in many respects in opposition to what another segment of the art word is telling me at the same time.  It is the existence of conflicting messages that makes me rethink much of what is carried along with stereotypical definitions of what it is to be an artist.

Jeff Koons sculptures on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, April 2008. (from the Independent)

I also respect the idea that according to Jeff Koons we as artists have something of a moral responsibility to not really misuse our talents to make ourselves seem better than other people.  I don’t really imagine that this is true for myself or many others, but I have encountered people who did have an inflated opinion of their relation to others.    I think in many ways I rethink art as something that can be entertainment, and it can be something deeper.  I also like how he goes into the idea that artists should embrace every tool communicate their message, which I interpret to expand further than merely one form of expression or genre.

Mostly I get the impression that one of the strongest messages that he is trying to convey is that commitment to a project, which seems strange to me at times.  I imagine that a person that views the scale and challenge of a piece and comments, “Wow…that must have taken a long time.”, may actually have inadvertently picked up on the real meaning of the piece.  Creating art for art’s sake is something that I have yet to grasp, and when and artists communicates that it makes me rethink things.

Rabbit in Naples, Italy, 2003

I think his work is important because it speaks to the immigrant experience, and to the experience of the children of such immigrants.  To me, personally, it stands in contrast to the ideas about culture and borders.  In this world these ideas are becoming outdated, and it is the countries, governments and cultural institutions that are behind the times in these regards.  As someone who has only recently become comfortable with even calling myself an artist I find the message in Chen Zhen so important.  It makes me sad that I only discovered his work now, because I would have loved to have simply been somewhere that he presented and asked him a question…no matter how stupid it may have been, because I would have gotten his opinion.

I mean that is something that we never think of.  If we ever achieve some level of notoriety (I won’t say fame, because fame is meaningless) the best we can hope for is to pass on our ideas to others.  And really there are no stupid questions.

The work shown above, “No way to Sky, No Door to Heaven”, is an interesting piece to me because it seems to express a level of futility; because no matter how you open the door it leads to nothing.  One side of the door is covered in rags (see below), while the other side is covered in ashen paper.

What strikes me about much of his work is the industrial nature of it, the use of metallics and dark materials which gives a feeling of the unnatural around us.  This holds in place with his art’s exploration of the Taoist and Buddhist ideals, and while “new life is given” to these mundane objects there is still a feeling of looking at them for what they really are.  Something man made and not really part of nature.

I decided I would make use of water colors and a canvas as the materials to apply the actions of this system.  The paint would be applied by hurling a koosh ball at a precise time at the canvas using a lacross stick.  The koosh ball was chosen mainly because I wanted to see what kind of effects or patterns I would get out of using it; the lacrosse stick (a childs version) was chosen because by using it I would have little control over where the ball hit, which would make the piece more random in nature.  I used two sizes a koosh balls, and which size used was determined be whether the time in which the ball was to be used was greater or less than 30.  Greater than 30 would be the larger ball, while less than 30 would be the small ball; there where only two uses of the larger koosh ball.  The color of paint to use was figured by placing a clock over a hexidecimal color wheel, and using the closest approximate paint color to match the color the minute hand was over at the assigned action time.

The final result of the performance system.

The top part of the work.

The bottom part of the work.

The lacross stick used in the creation of the work.

One of the ideas that appeals to me is to use water colors as opposed to ink, allowing me to use the wall in the shower for the location.  I imagine I would use a koosh ball partially dipped in paint to be launch as a projectile towards the wall at times based upon a decreasing mathematical interval.  So that it is launched at a steadily decreasing rate.  I could do this through simply throwing the ball, but I think I might have some fun with it and build a little catapult out of PVC to do it for me.  Along the same lines would be to use PVC to create a little brush launcher.  Basically I would shoot the brush at the canvas to create the effect.

Another idea would be to convert a box fan to hold colored pencils and turn it to a low setting, and at regular intervals rotate the canvas to a different position.  This would allow a mechanical motion to take place, while allowing a systemic effect to be carried out through the movement of the very canvas the marks are being placed on.

An idea that did pop into my mind was to use the moves within a chess game to create a work, but I am less able to fully envision how to really work this into something.