ART FROM THE ROAD: Experimenting with Bamboo Skewers and Super Glue

"Waste Not Want Not" (mixed media/video)

As I look through my blog, I am realizing I need to be less wordy. I will do my best to bear my soul with you, while still being at least somewhat concise. Here goes...

In this repetitive, callus forming, performance-esque video piece, I took the simple line "Waste Not, Want Not," and I wrote each word, individually, taking up a whole sheet of paper per word. I naughtily went through quite a bit of paper in my repetitive action, in fact, I spent about twelve hours straight doing this, while also recording various shots for the video portion of the piece.

The video itself, wasn't as developed as some of my previous work, but I still wouldn't hesitate to share it with you, except... well... its a serious pain in my ass, that I am quite frankly, not up for. I'm a busy man.

I was still pretty pleased with the reactions I was getting from viewers. For some reason- probably how blatantly UN-marketable video art is- I decided to put a 50,000 dollar price tag on it, and even farther, a requirement that the buyer gives me a polaroid of them hugging me in front of the piece while smiling. The reactions to this were comical.

My favorite thing to do at gallery shows, is to conspicuously hang out near viewers, acting like I am just another gallery-goer, and listen to what they say about my work. After a moment or so, I usually shake my head in disgust, and tell them, "It's ridiculous what passes for art now a'days..." and wait for their response.

The professors in my head were all criticizing me, saying that making that move with the price, would certainly be compromising aspects of my own artwork, but, for some reason, I was compelled to do it anyway.

Ok, I'm done.

"ONE BOX OF TOOTH-PICKS" (In the process of becoming: "1000 BOXES OF TOOTH-PICKS")

So as I was staring at the Computer screen writing for hours and days on end- I started to go a little crazy, and needed some fun relief that could serve as another form of artistic release- thus, the toothpick sculptures were born!
I made it as far as One box of toothpics before I left NC, but you just wait and see- someday, this will be a large-scale outdoor sculpture! Think of how crazy it would be if I could get 1000 boxes of toothpicks together! What fun!!!


Start small, and be patient!








If you like this and other pieces, you should know that many of my current pieces are created on the road, as I am writing "THE LAST GREAT american NOVEL-" Be sure to follow this blog, it is my main priority currently (in the world of blogging that is)The link is a few posts below, and on the side of the site this site as well- it can be found at:http://www.thelastgreatamericanjourney.blogspot.com/

SENIOR THESIS EXHIBITION

This was the piece that I did for MIAD's Senior Exhibition '09. It was a huge success for me personally, and I was fortunate enough to have been given "Best of Show," for the Integrated Studio Arts major- a personal goal that I had in my mind since my freshman year at MIAD.
The piece developed into a merge of video, sculpture, and performance; and was based largely on concepts of personal reflection, intensity of process, and perceptual relativity. For the final few weeks leading up to the senior show, I spent most hours day and night, drawing circles in phonebooks. I would start with a rather large circle, and I would continue drawing that circle with a pen, until eventually I would draw through the entire phone book. I did this with nearly 20 phonebooks, and after the second or third phone book, I even had a developed understanding of how to control the aesthetic outcome of each phonebook i.e. swithching pen types, colors, or the angle of my hand. The result was that the books themselves b
egan to have a beautiful layering of pristine colors, almost like what a jaw-breaker looks like if cut in half.
In the space that I was given, I projected a video of me that was split screen. half of the video displayed an emphasis of my facial expressions while drawing these repetitive circles, and the other half was a close up of the phonebook being drawn through. Along with the screen, was the embellished acoustical presence of the circles being drawn over and over again- a strangely dominant factor in the hypnotic tone of the space.
In the very center of the space, was a large wooden circle that I attained as a result of drawing a circle all the way through the wall using MANY MANY pens! Using the circle as a platform, I arranged the meticulously collected circles from the center of each phonebook on top of the wall circle, and placed them in front of the projection of myself and the phonebooks.
Finally, I placed 6 unmarked pedestals throughout the exhibition, and I displayed the actual phonebooks themselves, in small groups on these 6 pedestals. The intent of this placement, was to draw attention to the strange un-named phonebooks as objects, and to allow viewers to question not only WHY they were oddly placed throughout the exhibition, or WHAT the significance of this was- but also HOW had these strange objects been constructed.
By seperating the unexplained physical objects from my actual space in the exhibition, people were led through a series of questions that they would not normally be forced to consider. By seeing the recurring object a few times on their way to the 4th floor gallery, they had the object in the back of their head- THEN, upon seeing my space, and finding the video installation as well as the presentation of the phonebook centers- viewers were prompted to put together the puzzle, and were lead to discover the answer of HOW exactly the pieces were constructed. This helped to emphasize the great deal of meticulousness that pertained to the construction of the pieces, and added to an even greater appreciation of these objects on the way back out of the gallery when viewers would again come across the object with a newly found sense of appreciation.

Duct Tape Form

I was a bit burned out on some other projects one day, so I decided to go to the corner store, buy a roll of duct tape, and see what kind of forms I could create by just playing around with the material. I really do have far too much fun with my art for it to be considered work! Anyways, as I played around with the material, and built this cute little button of ribbons on the wall- I began to envision a duct tape button that would nearly fill a room! This is the result of one or two rolls of tape. Along with many many many other experiments, this will be put in my to-do pile of future projects. Anyone know of someone who might want to donate a thousand rolls of duct-tape?? Just thought I'd ask...

My Favorite Spot on the Floor, Put On the Wall

This work is in similar fashion to my previous studies of "indexical relationships," as well as my efforts to apply spatial relationships to 2-d works. In this piece, I studied the floor of the Rae-Schilling gallery, in order to find a spot that I though was the most interesting and compositionally compelling. This gesture alone applies a conceptual focus that takes alot of the traditional aspects of "art-making" and tosses them aside, for a more experimental investigative approach, i.e. I didn't draw that piece of the floor even though I found that the marks were beautiful, I simply uncovered their inherent composition- outside of my artistic abilities- and brought attention to them by replicating them with a painted plaster mold. I than painted that spot on the floor white, to bring further attention to this switch, as well as add a slight twist of humor.
I was pleased with the results and will continue in this line of studies.

Wall Drawings/Floor Drawings

These are pretty simple concepts in terms of drawing, but as is common in my work; I am most interested in the process. It reminded me quite a bit of drawing on the wall when I was a child. Being allowed to have this freedom in the context of a pristine gallery- has an emancipating effect on your actions. I found that in a way, it was almost a form of action drawing- allowing me to carry my physical gestures through my arm and onto the wall in a rather fluid manner. The simple stencil idea, relates to many of my studies of indexical relationships, as well as my recent attempts to carry out 2-d work in the spatial and physical mannerisms of a sculptor.

"Its ok, he cant hurt us anymore" (spit-wad shooting gallery)

This piece was done for the inauguration, and follows suite with some of my work that explores the elements of deviancy in childhood. Although somewhat immature, it was definitely therapeutic for people to hang out and have a laugh over this bastard while shooting some good ole' fashioned spit-wads at him!

Boundary Experimentation

This is one of the first experiments I did with boundaries and social interaction- by dusting the two sides of this hallway corridor with plaster dust and writing "Please use other side" on all four entrances, I was aggressively confronting individuals to make their own decisions about how to react to this barrier. The most interesting part of this experiment was to see its progression. As more and more people decided to disregard the prompt, you could see more and more footprints going different directions. This led people to believe more easily that it was ok to walk through, and funny as it was, people would tend to use the exact same side that the footprints were on- as if one side was ok to walk through, but the other was not. No one wanted to be the first set of footprints to break the rules.

More Spaghetti Art!

Just a continuation of my study with the wonderfully economical medium of spaghetti! This time, I used it in an installation setting, by gluing a piece to the wall, and just building slowly off of that to see how far I could push it. The lighting and shadows of this particular study were prime, so the documentation turned our very nicely!

"IM what's left of YOU, YOU are what's left of ME"

This is an audio installation I did earlier this year in an effort to convert some of my poetry into a literal visual realm. The audio recording is of myself and a female voice, reading the title of the piece (Im whats left of YOU, YOU are whats left of ME) back and forth to each other, however emphasizing different words to make a different meaning of the same phrase. i.e. I would say "IM whats left of YOU, YOU are whats left of ME," pronounciating the words in a way that references the literal placement of the words "IM" being literally LEFT of the word "YOU", and YOU being literally left of the word "ME". Conversely, the female voice in the recording says the phrase, "I'm whats left of you, you are whats left of me" suggesting a far more romantic or sentimental meaning of the same words. 

"Art in the Parkinglot"

"Art in the Parkinglot," was a large scale, temporary, outdoor exhibition that was held last year in the fifth ward on gallery night. My piece was made up of crumbled parts of the old demolished highway, and metal rebar that was intertwined within the concrete pieces. Physical labor, and the intensity of process,was a focal point- as opposed to some of my process work that reflects more meticulousness or compulsive behavior. In the 1/3 scale model shown below, I used a flourescent light underneath that was not very prevelant in the final product.

"Where did YOU go?"

This text installation was an idea that came to me after having to paint over another text installation. After several coats of white, I could still see the tracings of my original work, so I began to work with the idea of this figurative sense of permanance- in terms of covering something up, or making something disappear. Even when you paint over another color, or stain on your wall- you still know it is there. It shows somehow, even if only by the heavily saturated single clean paint spot standing out on the dusty white surface of the wall.
This invincible presence is being used somewhat obviously in the first installation of the piece, and was titled in a simple punch line fashion; "Where did YOU go?"
I began to consider semiotic perception, and where and how a viewer would take the notion of "You" being erased somehow; mainly, where they might put themselves in this simple contradiction. I personaly, was creating a very intimate narrative in a sense- I was considering the notion of making someone in my life dissapear in the same way as a stain, and than, almost the childish notion of asking them 'where did you go?' being almost reminiscent of peek-a-boo as a kid. When the piece was re-installed for the "Verify" exhibition at MIAD, I used a more subtle, yet provocative approach by doing two things.
One, I painted almost entirely over the "YOU," in hopes to extend the concept by leaving the almost decorative painterly qualities of the original behind, and leaving some viewers questioning a nearly blank wall (most were either confused or annoyed). Second, as the title provides you with the only concrete notion of this peculiar joke ("Where did YOU go"?) I signed my name as Joseph R. Reeves ESQ, and put 22,000 dollars as the price.