Ask KB FRIDAYS: Musings on the Mundane

ahhh..My Wolfy working on his milk.
(When I was young I thought "Wolfgang" was a perfect name for a boy child- then Valerie Bertinelli stole it! -sheesh good thing I had a girl.)

Above: Wolfgang Laib Pollen from Hazelnut, 1992 Pollen, 138" x 157-1/2" Collection of the artist Installation: Centre Pompidou, Paris 1992

I received an interesting question today...

KB,
What do you listen to when you blog and where do you get all
the obscure sites?

Best,
Cordyllia
Inquiring Minds Want to know....

Dearest Questioning Cordyllia,

Let me tell you that right now, right this second I'm listening to the very sexy, the very moody Ray La Montagne. I found him recently and can't get enough...he's like Otis Redding meets Michael Bolton before he got all sell-outy, power ballady, cheesey.

He's mellow and "like, really deep, man."

A great story teller and a bit folksy.

Yesterday it was the fun, funny, and irresistible Ingrid Michaelson-her Be OK CD is fabarooski.

Her lyrics kill me.

About the obscure sites...I probably spend too much time surfing but I follow interesting links. That's all. Like today I followed Tonky Designs which was featured on Design sponge to Victoria Calabro to Derick Melander. I was intrigued by the everyday objects they used in thoughtful, interesting ways. I Love sculpture- especially larger than life stuff. The folded clothing wave piece changes according to light, your perspective, where you are positioned....

My all time favorite sculptor is an eccentric artist (ooh was that redundant?) named Wolfgang Laib. I visited his show at the Seattle Art Museum a while back and the aroma of beeswax was intoxicating. He painstakingly gathers pollens to create the most vivid, glowing works I have ever seen. He also works with milk, beeswax, rice...it's an extraordinary play on scale and form.

This piece by Derick Melander reminds me of an abandoned house I visited in Montana. The locals refered to it as "Oscar's House." It has never left my memory. The contents of the deceased man's home have never been removed. The clothing he left, on pegs on the walls, was still plastered to the wallpaper by the wind and the rain. Tea cups were broken on the floor, the bureau drawers were warped and nested in by various critters, a calendar from 1955 was shredded and mouldered on the floor, the place was the most beautiful mess I have ever seen.

I took some photographs...I need to dig them up.

The above art is from Derick Melander .

What do they say? "Talking about artis like dancing about architecture."

I, actually, think Derick has some great things to say...

Artist's Statement:
I create large geometric configurations from carefully folded and
stacked second-hand clothing. These structures take the form of wedges,
columns and enclosures, typically weighing between five hundred pounds and one
ton. Many of these pieces directly interact with the surrounding
architecture and sometimes create discrete environments of their own.
As
clothing wears, fades, stains and stretches it becomes an intimate record of our
physical presence. It traces the edge of the body, defining the boundary
between the individual and the outside world.
The clothing used for
these works is folded to exact dimensions and categorized by various
criteria. For example, the order can relate to the way we layer the
clothing we wear or the clothing can be sorted by color, gender or
demographic. sculptural components are sometimes connected together with
shirt sleeves, pant legs and belts to form bridge-like appendages.
For me,
the process of folding and stacking the individual garments adds a layer of
meaning to the work. When I come across a dress with a hand-sewn repair,
or a coat with a name written inside the collar, the work starts to feel like a
collective portrait. As the layers of clothing accumulate, the individual
garments are compressed into a single mass, a symbolic gesture that explores the
conflicted space between society and the individual.

This one (below) is his too:

Love the positive and negative space...

The footsie below is the work of Victoria Calabro
I love the spirit and the execution.