Tag Archives: public art

My solo exhibition Once Familiar recently took place at the University of Rio Grande’s Esther Allen Greer Museum. This was a great opportunity to show a majority of the artworks from the Once Familiar series, and the museum’s cozy familiarity definitely enhanced the surreal qualities of these pieces. In addition, having this exhibit deadline motivated me to finish up a large group of Memory Vessel sculptures, which enhanced the conversation among everything on display.

: Hyper-trophy, steel, cast rubber, and paint

: Hyper-trophy, side view

: Hyper-trophy, detail view

: Hyper-trophy, detail view

: Hyper-trophy, detail view

: Memory Vessel (Silver Series), Glass, found objects, 3D printed plastic, epoxy putty, hot glue, and vinyl paint

: Memory Vessel (Silver Series), detail view

: Memory Vessel (Silver Series), detail view

: Memory Vessel (Silver Series), detail view

: Memory Vessel (Silver Series), detail view

: Memory Vessel (Silver Series), Glass, found objects, 3D printed plastic, epoxy putty, hot glue, and vinyl paint

: In Defense of Intellectual Luxury, steel and paint

: Memory Vessel (Gold Series), glass, found objects, 3D printed plastic, epoxy putty, hot glue, vinyl paint, plywood, and steel

: Memory Vessel (Gold Series), detail view

: Memory Vessel (Gold Series), detail view

: Desk Job, spray paint on panel

: Eagle Eye (Spinning Wheel of Death Edition), toner transfer, ink, and gouache on panel

: Nothing Happened #2, cast aluminum

miami art fairs 2016

December 8, 2016

art, news, public art, sculpture

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I had a great time in Miami last week checking out the city’s annual art fairs, marking my first visit to this city and my first time taking in an international art fair. The sheer number of art venues was mind boggling, and the range of work on display showcased the remarkable character of contemporary art. This was a truly amazing experience, and I definitely feel inspired in my own studio practice after gathering so much visual inspiration. Here’s a few highlights from this trip:

Scope International Contemporary Art Show

: We began our art adventures at Scope Miami Beach.

: Scope was located on the beach right across from our hotel, making it a great place to start.

: Some great mixed media work by Swoon

: Really enjoy Swoon’s ability to mix found objects and printmaking

: Fabulous anatomical paintings by Michael Reedy

: Interesting take on taxidermy, one of many animal themed works in Scope

: Creepy baby art, these pieces were incredible in their sense of finish

: More work by the creepy baby artist

: Still more work by the same artist, these pieces were small but unnerving

: Nice color coded found object piece by Sayaka Ganz

: Bedazzled objects with tons of bling were definitely a trend at all the fairs

: Exquisitely weird dripping foam sculptures

: Tongue chair

: Cinder blocks figured in a great deal of works at all the fairs

: Silicone pig mask lineup

: Hilarious diorama

: Some nice cardboard fabrication

: Neon & text-based pieces also figured prominently into all the fairs

: Crazy installation of felted food

: Super cheeseball skull thrones, trite but well made

: This fair had an abundance of Darth Vader, Batman, etc. art

: Gun art really isn’t my thing, but I am definitely a sucker for multiples

: Exquisite dumpster reproductions by Drew Leshko

: Leshko also recreated other icons of the urban environment

: First of many golden tricycles we saw throughout the fairs

: Awesome text based painting by Wayne White

UNTITLED, Miami Beach

: UNTITLED was located adjacent to Scope in a tent along the beach.

: Alison striking a pose at the fair entrance

: Great installation of laser cut wood surfboards

: Nice vessel oriented sculpture by Lance Marchel

: Rirkrit Tiravanija installation

: This was by far my favorite thing at UNTITLED.

: Phrases seen above were screen printed on to these shirts and sold directly at the fair

: The surreal mix and match aspect of this work was super appealing.

: Excellent cut paper work

: Awesome relief pieces by Derek Larson

: Loved this booth by Bitforms Gallery, including these 3D printed vases

: “Bilateral Time Slicer” by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

: This video work was absolutely bonkers, definitely one of the smartest interactive pieces in all the fairs.

: Glass and steel sculpture by Túlio Pinto

: Clever one-liner sculpture, the hair blowing in the breeze was a nice touch

: Haim Steinbach sculpture

: Ceramic art was huge at all the fairs, which was surprising and very welcome

: More work by Rirkrit Tiravanija, screen printing on felt

: Great print assemblage on the wall by Nicola Lopez

: Painting by Christian Rex van Minnen

: Painting by Christian Rex van Minnen

: Wall relief sculpture by Leonardo Drew

Art Basel Miami Beach

: This fair featured largely blue chip modern & contemporary artists.

: Art Basel Miami Beach was held at the convention center, providing a great deal of space for the work.

: In addition, Art Basel Miami Beach has great spaces for visitors to chill out!

: Frank Stella wall relief sculptures such as this were featured throughout all the art fairs

: Wall relief in wood by Mel Kendrick

: Nice Mel Kendrick cast concrete sculpture

: Small stainless steel tree by Roxy Paine

: Beautiful watercolor drawing by Walton Ford

: David Wojnarowicz painting

: Installation of small works by David Wojnarowicz

: Cast bronze, stone, and steel sculpture by Wangechi Mutu

: Amazing kinetic sculptures by George Rickey

: Beautiful decollage works by Jacques Villeglé

: Beautiful decollage works by Jacques Villeglé

: Wacky food-themed installation by Nathalie Djurberg

: Nathalie Djurberg installation detail, love the milk-toast

: Stunning text-based drawing on cardboard by Andrea Bowers

: Text-based wall piece by Andrea Bowers

: Beautiful sculpture riffing on the vanitas theme by Jorge Macchi

: Stunning wooden sculpture by Gerhard Demetz

: The open spaces and contrast between smooth and rough textures really made this piece sing

: Fiberglass cloud abstraction by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle

: Brad Kahlhamer painting

: Beautiful Nick Cave sculpture

: 3D printing, silicone, and paint combined nicely in this trio of sculptures by Fabian Marcaccio

: Henrique Oliveira found wood sculpture

: Elliott Hundley collage painting

: Sculpture by Walead Beshty

: Paul McCarthy sculpture

: Wood sculpture by Paul McCarthy

: Really enjoyed seeing this work in person, it’s an impressive meeting of old & new techniques.

: Lightbox by Doug Aitken

: Joseph Kosuth neon piece

: Tom Sachs sculpture

: Tony Cragg sculpture

: Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, “Maze of Quotes,” at Fondation Beyeler’s stand

: Lightbox by Doug Aitken

: Digital video sculpture by Tony Oursler

: Beautiful Harry Bertoia sculpture in the foreground

: Cast bronze and fiber sculpture by Barbara Chase-Riboud

: Stainless steel sculpture by Not Vital

: Amazing miniature interstate highway sculpture

: Fabric sculpture by Do Ho Suh

: Large bronze sculpture by Yayoi Kusama

: Metal sculpture (foreground) by Conrad Shawcross

: Lightbox by Doug Aitken

: Installation by Wong Ping

: Text piece by Rirkrit Tiravanija

: 3D printed sculptures by Mark Leckey

: Bronze sculpture by Chris Ofili

: Gorgeous sculpture by Tunga

: Digital video sculpture by Tony Oursler

: Tony Cragg sculpture

: Sculpture by Abraham Cruzvillegas

: Nari Ward sculpture

: One of many altered bicycles found at this year’s art fairs

: Mona Hatoum food grater bench

: Sculpture by William Kentridge

: Jeff Koons sculpture

: Painted boulder sculpture by Ugo Rondinone

: Sculpture by Jeff Koons, the inflatable piece is cast metal

: Text based sculpture by Jack Pierson

: Marble sculpture by Louise Bourgeoise

: Paintings by Sean Landers

: William Kentridge sculpture

: William Kentridge drawing

: Wim Delvoye sculpture

: Tom Sachs, part of an installation of his work

: Amazing photorealistic painting by Richard Estes

: Painted foam piece by Katharina Grosse

: Large painting by Kehinde Wiley

: Eva & Adele sighting

: This couple is a fixture at international art fairs, so it was wild to finally see them in person.

: Ceramic sculptures by Damián Ortega

: Nice photo installation by Ana Mendieta

: Jaume Plensa stainless steel sculpture

: Doug Aitken sculpture

: Shoe sculpture by Brian Jungen

: Great astronaut sculpture by Paweł Althamer

: Gallery staff fixing an ensemble of cast metal balloons

: Matthew Ronay sculpture

: Sculpture by Jonathan Monk

: Beautiful cast iron packing blanket sculpture by Gavin Kenyon

: Sculpture by Damien Hirst

: Doris Salcedo sculpture

: Mike Kelley found object piece from the “Memory Ware” series

Spectrum Miami & Red Dot Miami

: Spectrum and Red Dot were by far the weakest shows we saw, still had some great work though.

: Stainless rod creating this big cat, wish the subject matter was as smart as the technique

: Yet more altered bike art, seemed to be a trend

: Nice Campbell’s soup can grenade multiples

: Great sculpture by Marshall University sculpture faculty Jonathan Cox

Art Miami

: Art Miami had a great mix of blue chip and emerging artists.

: Stephan Balkenhol sculpture

: Giant matches with human heads by Wolfgang Stiller

: Taxidermy sculpture by Les Deux Garçons

: Found object sculpture by Miguel Delie

: Amazing stoneware sculpture by Ken Mihara

: Giant dollar sign sculpture by Tim Noble and Sue Webster

: Beautiful bronze sculpture by Lynn Chadwick

: Nice etching by Grayson Perry

: Cast glass sculpture by Norwood Viviano

: Cast glass figure by Eric Fischl

: Cool carved book sculptures by Long-Bin Chen

: Found metal horse by Deborah Butterfield

: Wacky Lego sculptures

: Sculpture by Franz West

: Text-based sculpture by Doug Aitken

: Street art installation by Mr. Brainwash

Rubelll Family Collection

: The Rubell Family Collection is one of the world’s largest, privately owned collections of contemporary art.

: The collection is constantly expanding and features both well-known and emerging artists.

: The exhibit on the ground floor was “New Shamans/Novos Xamãs: Brazilian Artists.”

: Painted steel sculpture by Aaron Curry

: Thomas Houseago sculpture on left

: Cast bronze sculpture by Thomas Schütte

: The exhibition on the top floor was “High Anxiety: New Acquisitions”

: The sculpture “Juliana” by Frank Benson was a knockout work

: Benson’s sculpture is a life-size 3D print of transgender icon Julianna Huxtable

: The hyper-realistic figure was immaculately crafted and very impressive

: Cady Noland installation

: Paintings by Aaron Fowler

: Sculpture by Ryan Trecartin

: Photomontages by John Waters

: Installation of sculptures by Stewart Uoo

: As we were leaving, a man in a giant penis costume came in with his entourage.

: He then wandered into the galleries with his posse.

: Somehow, he even managed to get his very cumbersome penis costume up the stairs!

PULSE Contemporary Art Fair

: PULSE was a pretty decent art fair, nice mix of art world heavy hitters and new talent.

: Text-based work by William Powhida

: Sculpture by Chen Wenling

: Altered scooter sculpture by Patricia Piccinini

: Beautiful painting by Jean Pierre-Roy

: Assemblage sculptures by Magma (Jun Sugiyama and Kenichi Miyazawa)

: Yet another bike-themed artwork…

: Gorgeous painting by Andrew McIntosh

Art Basel Miami Beach-Public Art Section

: In conjunction with it’s more conventional gallery-based work, Art Basel Miami Beach featured some great outdoor public art.

: Uno Rondinone’s fabulous painted stone sculpture “Miami Mountain.”

: This piece managed to be both funky and earthy, which is quite a coup.

: Cast bronze ensemble “10 Standing Figures” by Magdalena Abakanowicz

: William J. O’Brien’s “Untitled (The Protectors)”

: Erwin Wurm’s “Big Disobedience”

: “Mirage” by Jean-Marie Appriou

: “Contrology” by Camille Henrot

: “Dropping The Ball” by Camille Henrot

: Tony Matelli’s “Jesus” was a tour de force, definitely my favorite piece in this show.

: “Jesus” consisted of a sandblasted statue and hyperrealistic cast bronze avocados.

: The juxtaposition of the figure’s rough surface alongside the perfect reproductions of food was very surreal.

: “Naturaleza Urbana” by Yoan Capote

: Eric Baudart, “Atmosphere”

: Alicja Kwade, “Reise ohne Ankunft (Mercier)”

: Glenn Kaino’s sculpture “Invisible Man” was another highlight of this outdoor show.

: The contrast of rough and smooth surfaces made Kaino’s sculpture very impactful.

: Tony Tasset, “Arrow Sculpture”

INK Miami Art Fair

: INK largely focused on prints, with some really beautiful pieces.

: For this fair, they cleared out a hotel and featured different galleries in each room.

: Nice installation of Leslie Dill’s print work

: Beautiful relief prints by Michele Oka Doner

: Nice steel cut out by Tom Wesselmann

: Crazy lithograph by Richard Hamilton focusing on the drug bust of the Rolling Stones.

Aqua Art Miami

: Aqua was a very youth oriented fair featuring some decent work.

: This was a similar model to INK, featuring a hotel courtyard with rooms cleared out for galleries.

: Tim Conlon’s scale models of trains decked out with graffiti were really fabulous.

: What would an art fair be without some baby art?

: Excellent work by Ben Frost

: Frost’s alterations of everyday packaging made for some smart work.

: Work by grads from the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design in Atlanta

: This projection on to a shower curtain was a smart use of the space.

Miami Project

: Miami Project was our final art fair visit, really liked a few of the artists exhibiting so it seemed worth checking out.

: Great drawing by Eric Yahnker

: Another one of Eric Yahnker’s drawings

: Amazing diorama by Gregory Euclide

: Euclide’s combination of printmaking, sculpture, and mixed media techniques was a knockout.

: Beautiful drawing by Joel Daniel Phillips

: Cool wall relief sculpture by Crystal Wagner

: Sculptures by Ti-Rock Moore

eastern pylons project

October 31, 2016

art, process images, public art, sculpture

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In 1956, sculptor Milton Horn created carved stone pylons for the West Virginia University School of Medicine Morgantown Campus. These four towering columns contain eight carved relief scenes celebrating the history of medicine. As a tribute to his late wife Estelle, Horn donated his original plaster studies of these pylons to the West Virginia University School of Medicine Charleston Campus in 1982. In a collaborative effort between West Virginia University Health Sciences and the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts, I was commissioned to reproduce these panels for display at the West Virginia University School of Medicine Eastern Campus in Martinsburg, symbolically linking our university’s three medical school campuses. I delivered and installed the first panel in August, and the second panel was delivered in mid-October. I am on track to finish and deliver three more panels this academic year, and I expect to fully complete this project by fall 2017.

The Eastern Pylons project is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever undertaken, and I’m really pleased with the results. This project has allowed me to combine my knowledge of casting and metal fabrication methods to create large scale finished artworks, while also affording me on-the-job training in the use of new art-making materials, such as Winterstone-casting mix and Smooth-On Equinox silicone rubber mold putty. Working at this scale is certainly not a one-person job, so I am forever grateful to my student workers Cornelius Hugo, Kevin Brennan, and Matt Jarrett, as their hard work and camaraderie has been instrumental in the success of this project.

: Finished cast stone and painted steel pylon panels

: Panel depicting history of ophthalmology

: Panel depicting history of ophthalmology

: Panel depicting history of dentistry and history of rabies vaccine

: Detail of panel depicting history of dentistry and history of rabies vaccine

: Original plaster study depicting history of dentistry and history of rabies vaccine

: Students Cornelius Hugo and Kevin Brennan placing Equinox mold putty on panel

: Detail of Equinox mold putty on panel

: Placing mold putty on panel

: Placing mold putty on panel

: Finishing rubber mold of panel

: Finished rubber mold of panel

: Rubber mold with plastic & wood mother mold

: Removing mold from panel

: Detail of removing mold

: Raw steel tubing frame for pylon panel

: Students Matt Jarret, Cornelius Hugo, and Kevin Brennan casting pylon panel in sculpture studio

: Securing cast stone panel in steel frame

morgantown tree by carol hummel

December 30, 2013

art, news, public art, sculpture

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Looking back on 2013, I think the most challenging yet enjoyable project I took part in was the Morgantown Tree by artist Carol Hummel.

The School of Art and Design at West Virginia University invited Hummel to be a visiting artist for the 2013-2014 academic year. In addition to having a gallery exhibition, she put forth a proposal to work with students and community members to cover a large tree on our Evansdale Campus with crocheted yarn. Hummel has an impressive record of creating similar crocheted installations in Cleveland Heights, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Drangedal, Norway and New Delhi, India, so I thought it would be quite a coup for her to create a project in Morgantown.

Once Hummel’s project was approved, a workforce had to be organized to make all the crocheted elements. I served as Hummel’s de facto project manager, helping her coordinate with the university and community groups involved in the installation. Because this was a once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity, we decided early on that our sculpture students would assist Hummel. Members of the Morgantown community, including campus knitting groups and residents at The Village at Heritage Point (a senior retirement community), also made invaluable contributions to this project. There was palpable synergy among all participants, and due to excellent teamwork and a stretch of great weather, the installation was finished in only six days.

The Morgantown Tree was created in conjunction with Morgantown’s 2013 celebration of The Year of the Tree (YOTT). By choosing a prominent location for this installation, Hummel’s project enjoyed high visibility for both on-and off-campus populations. She used an open stitch for this installation, which allows the trees to breathe without damaging their growth, and her chosen synthetic yarn will hold its color well for the next several years.