Its a tunnel! Its a house! Its a tunnel! Its a house!
Isn’t it great how creativity kicks in when times running out. Take for example this incredible and beautiful installation by artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck a few months before this house was to be demolished…. I’m guessing they saw any opportunity to do something freaking crazy cool to a space that was going to be destroyed and turned this old house into a trippy wooden warp zone!
Nicholas Jones’ Background:
I come from a fine art sculpture background, studying from 1995- 1997 at the VCA. For the majority of my course, I made work from the expected media such as bronze, aluminium, clay, wood etc…, but when I got to my final semester, I started experimenting with books and found paper as a potential sculptural material. One of my lecturers, Elizabeth Presa had been working with folded books, wax and mixed media and these were media I empathised with. The more I read about deconstructivist theory as expounded by Jacques Derrida and the Baroque and the Double Fold, by Deleuze and Guattari, the more I started to feel that my chosen medium had relevance. The idea of divesting a book of its utilitarianism and forcing it into the realm of the surreal and futile was confounding and enticing at the same moment. Books become objectified rather than useful and beautiful, rather than taken for granted. The Japanese theory of Wabi Sabi also inspires me greatly and the notion that nothing is perfect holds a great deal of weight.
aaaand the best part: The Artist Studio shot
Read an interview with the artist
Contact Nicholas: bibliopath@excite.com
Gregory Euclide is an artist and teacher living in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. His attraction to the landscape originates from his experience of growing up in the rural landscapes of Wisconsin. Free to roam from farm field to forest edge, he developed an appreciation for authentic experience within the natural landscape. The complexity and interconnectedness of the environment had a profound impact on him as a child and would become the content and conceptual framework for his future work.
I have only recently been introduced to the artist Jenny Holzer. Her ‘truisms‘ first took shape as one liner posters and were then transformed into projections onto buildings and landscapes as well as installations with LED lights. Some of this work can be seen here,as well as a plaque, and some benches. She was featured on PBS’s Art:21 (another favorite program of mine).
…often holzer’s work presents both explicit content and
minimalist aesthetics that make profound statements about
the world of advertising and consumer society today.
I have always felt moved by the power of words and am undeniably drawn to artists who use words and phrases in their artwork. There is a feeling that I get from a perfectly structured collection of words that almost makes me want to give up everything and create my own set of ‘truisms’ as Jenny has done. Here are a few of my personal favorites:
enjoy yourself because you can’t change anything anyway
go all out in romance and let the chips fall where they may
habitual contempt doesn’t reflect a finer sensibility
a sense of timing is the mark of genius
a sincere effort is all you can ask
a solid home base builds a sense of self
a single event can have infinitely many interpretations
if you can’t leave your mark give up
if you have many desires your life will be interesting
if you live simply there is nothing to worry about
illness is a state of mind
knowing yourself lets you understand others
knowledge should be advanced at all costs
mothers shouldn’t make too many sacrifices
remember you always have freedom of choice
selflessness is the highest achievement
slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison
solitude is enriching
the most profound things are inexpressible
you owe the world not the other way around
