some progress on eternity

Mike and I have been working hard to finish Eternity before we move out of our studio (we are hoping to have an opening/closing party on May 14 or 16th). We used a piece of scrap wood leftover from the ceiling of our Grand Opening For Gravity installation to test the spacing and attachment of the clock motors (the real deal will be made of white plexiglas). We attached wires to all the battery terminals and are waiting for the power supplies to come in the mail. There will be four adapters that connect to 8-12 motors each (wired in series), and they will all plug in to a single power strip. Hopefully when we flip the switch all the clocks will start ticking at the exact same moment...which will scramble the word immediately, since some of those black lines forming the letters are made of second hands. We're keeping our fingers crossed that all goes as planned!
(click on the photos to enlarge them)

picking up what I put down

Remember how, a long time ago, I was going to mesh myself with the members of my community in the form of mixed-up puzzles? Well, I'm finally getting around to it....

These are only the first two. There will eventually be 12 puzzles in all. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet, but I thought I should try to finish them before I leave Alfred.

(((I got a job at Bowdoin College, so I'm moving to Maine this summer!)))

artist books

I was invited to write something for the audio component of the "Fit to be Bound" exhibition at the Everson Museum, which opens later this week. They asked me to answer the question of what artist books are for me - what do they look like, what comprises an artist book, etc. My response will be included as part of the cell phone audio tour system, so that any visitor who comes into the exhibition can dial in and listen to my thoughts. Here's what I submitted:

"For me, the artist book emphasizes the process of viewing rather than the product of making. The book represents a personal encounter - the importance of seeing, discovering, and understanding a work of art on your own terms, in your own time. The book is not an object that's meant to be understood from a distance. It is meant to be studied; it requires investigation. Contained within its volume is a story, an experience, which has been physically recorded by its maker. You are meant to sit with it, relate to it, to let the story unfold. This cannot be accomplished in an instant or at first glance, but slowly, over the course of time, with patience and persistence. Its form, its thickness and weight, can tell you how much of your time it will demand. A story can be one story tall, or one mile long, or as thick as one strand of hair. Nevertheless, it is up to you, the viewer, to read it."

props

(Images of work by Richard Serra and Charles Ray)

Opening on April 17th: Fit to be Bound

I will be showing my sculpture Extended Horizon at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY, in a juried exhibition called "Fit to be Bound." A bit about the show:

"In 2010, the Everson Museum of Art introduced The Edge of Art: New York State Artists Series as an alternative to the traditional Biennial Exhibition. Fit to Be Bound, the second exhibition in a series of four showcases a broad range of artist books created by artists currently living in New York State—the first survey of its kind at the Everson. The exhibition will be an exploration of the various means by which contemporary artists have expanded the notion of the book form, from the traditional to the sculptural, from paper to mixed-media, small-scale and oversized. Thirty-four artists from 12 counties are included in the exhibition." (read more about it on their website)

Extended Horizon, 2009
(photos by Mike Fleming)

Last Minute

by Jorge Macchi and Edgardo Rudnitzky
(found here)

sketch for eternity

I'm trying to wrap my brain around this word in so many ways. Is it the opposite of "now"? Or are they one and the same? It blows my mind!

(P.S. Those lines are clock hands that will line up this way once every 24 hours. Orange = hour hand, magenta = minute hand, silver = second hand, teal = 24 hour hand. They will all be black in real life but this drawing is helping me and my collaborator, Mr. Mike Fleming, map out all of the movements. Click on the image to see it bigger.)