Art Project: Stand In

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​Stand In Series

Project Description: 

These conceptual, sculptural works are found object assemblages used to express ineffable, personal experiences. Sometimes, the experiences mapped through these objects are poignant and moving; sometimes they are awkward and difficult, and or hard to recollect at all.  A wink, the last visit with someone, a sudden convergence of events, are clumsily broken down into aspects, and paired through a legend, to an object. 

In a sense this work is about presence: the presence in objects, and the way presence opens up and closes down in the course of living a life, or the movement through a day. 

Related Projects:

Help me [  ], do the thing.
Attendant
You Are Legend
​What If Project
Clueless

I made this series after witnessing humans,  family members and a close friend with dementia, being separated from the objects of their lives. This project is my way of processing such losses, and is both an exploration of the lives of things and their histories as companions in our homes. Also, I find myself saddened by the sheer volume of discarded things. In the past few years, junk shops are truly overwhelmed, and this is the stuff that isn't going directly into the trash, yet. As this pile up happens on one end of the production cycle and our civic duty to keep consuming because we can brings on that empty feeling, these pieces are small altars to meaningful, alive moments, a way of resurrecting discarded things, and a process for making use of the gravity of our human, earthen predicament.

This  project explores  the inevitable and human experience of parting with what we care for and hold closest, and my own fascination with all the 'stuff.' I'm interested in the inside/outside delineation in human experience, what we don't know of another's life, and what's laid open to be seen. Also, what we often can't fully register - those moments - as they happen in our own lives: both the sweet and the difficult moments.

These works, presented via  garlands, shelves and spindles, generally are under two feet in their largest dimensions. Larger site specific, temporary versions are also in development and I have begun collaboration with spaces offered to me and the things that have collected there. The work is both the sculptural assemblage and the legend that accompanies it. 

This project first began in 2014, and continues today. 

Pieces from this series have been exhibited at:

The Drawing Center, New York MA
555 Gallery, South Boston MA
Scarab Club, Detroit MI
Barickuda Gallery, Ann Arbor MI
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There are 22 smaller pieces in the series, 19 of which are new in 2022. There are also photo documents of found assemblages that were extremely temporary, made on site at a residency and deconstructed after photographing. Please contact me if you'd like to learn more about the project.