Friday, November 16, 2007

Easily Amused

So, a friend of mine asked me to send him some FIMP books for his gallery, and he said to put together some kind of rack for them, with the FIMP logo on it.



I'm the first to admit I'm too easily amused, but I really enjoyed the crappy materials I was using to make the rack. FIMP books are very low-tech - origamified xeroxes, basically. That's one of the things I like about them. I've always thought the Xerox machine is a great printmaking tool, as long as you go in knowing what it can and can't do. Anyway, it seemed appropriate to make a cardboard/foam-core/gesso-soaked rack, and here it is in all of its rough-edged corrugated glory.

But I just had too much fun making it. In all of its lumpiness, it reminded me of some Cy Twombly sculptures I had seen a long time ago. . .


Cy Twombly, Epitaph, Jupiter Island 1992
wood, plaster, plywood, and paint
16 x 15 1/4 x 15" (40.7 x 38.7 x 38.1 cm)


And that got me thinking that it would be really amusing if someone would make some stealth sculpture, where the pedestal or the bookrack were far more interesting than the thing being displayed, but you'd really need to be paying attention to pick up on that fact. Someone oughta do that.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Here's an almost example of someone doing what you suggested: Opus 40 is not far from Kingston, NY, where I spent a few years after college. As you'll learn from this article, the artist was the one who had to pay attention:

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/06/02/travel/escapes/02trip.html

-BJ