Turning Trash into Treasure, February 5, 2007
By James Mellick
If you have ever been attracted to something your neighbor has put out in the trash and half-embarrassed, you quickly pull up curbside and throw that "treasure" into the back of your car, all the while looking around to see if anyone is watching while your fully embarrassed wife is yelling, "I can't believe you're doing this!"-you might be an artist. If you've packed boxes of junk every time you moved over the last 30 years, you might be an artist. You never know when these things will come in handy.
Clutter is the lifestyle of 90 percent of visual artists who are inspired by found objects that beg to become something else. What's junk to anyone else calls to us like curbside sirens no matter if we lash ourselves to the steering wheel. Spouses wade through, step on and stumble over these found treasures until they can take no more and the ultimatum is given, "Either this junk goes or I go". The key to keeping the marriage intact (and yourself) is the redemption of turning this stuff into something beautiful as soon as possible, and that is what the artists of "Trashformations East" have done. This traveling exhibition, curated by Lloyd Herman and organized by the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, is on display at the Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus from February 4 through April 1, 2007.
I'm old fashioned because above all else I like to look at art that is visually pleasing. I like art that is thoughtfully composed, well crafted, original and insightful in meaning. When teaching found object assemblage in 3D design, I encouraged my students to find vintage objects by scouring flea markets and antique stores. Less familiar things removed from our time add an element of exotic curiosity. Transformation to a new art form is easier if the objects have some distance from their original purpose. Old things have a beautiful patina and texture that comes with experience. Take that as you wish.
The art historical precedent for this art form are many from Pablo Picasso's simple bull made of a bicycle seat and handlebar; Marcel Duchamp's ready-made bicycle wheel on a wood stool (boring) or Man Ray's surreal clothes iron with spikes. And of course, there are the many Joseph Cornell's constructions framed in a glass box. In this show, Cornell's style is referenced in Bob Conge's "Shrine #9 (Stone Boy)" where found and fabricated objects are composed in a glazed wood box.
Michael Ulman of Roslindale, MA uses a vintage vacuum sweeper canister for the side car of his "1909 Harley" which I would guess is one third scale. The use of old and worn stuff can give me the feeling of repulsion and decay like mummified remains of a Harley, but altogether and seeing past the parts to the whole, is beautiful.
In some cases seeing past an awkward form and focusing on individual parts assembled is more important. This is the case "Seated Lady" by Leo Sewell of Philadelphia, PA. This life-sized, rigid figure is composed of hundreds of colorful objects from present and past, cut, fitted and screwed to form the body. Where would you think the hemispheres of globes were used on the body?
The center piece of the exhibition is Gordon E. Chandler's (Carrolton, GA) "Reclining Buck" which has the perfect cleverness and layering of meaning. It is a ten (or more) point buck constructed of identifiably green John Deere implement parts and yet is fluid in movement, capturing the gesture of the animal. In this case, welded parts are reformed or used as is but most would only be recognized by my farming neighbors.
Another way to use found objects as media disassociated from their original purpose is to use hundreds of them. Susan Hayden of Burnsville, NC, probably is a person who bids on the box that no one else wants at an auction-that box of wrenches. If one uses enough of something in a design, that thing becomes an abstract part of an overall pattern. That is what she has done with "Wrench Bench" constructed by welding together various shapes and sizes of wrenches.
Ohio Artists included in this exhibition are David and Roberta Williamson of Berea. They are well known for their collaboration of jewelry sized sculpture which give an element of preciousness to otherwise mundane objects. Their title "Sometimes You Have to Look Around for a While for a Perfect Fit" was bigger than their art work.
Also from Baltimore, Ohio is Michelle Salrin Stitzlein. Her monumental "Piano Moth" (not as big as Mothra) is constructed of piano keys, china shards, electric chords and wood wrapped in tin.
Trashformations East runs from February 4 to April 1, 2007. The Ohio Craft Museum is located at 1665 West Fifth Avenue, Columbus, OH. Hours are Monday-Friday, 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 1-4, closed Saturday. Also check out www.ohiocraft.org .
James Mellick is a free lance artist, musician and writer living near Marysville, Ohio.