Wednesday Night: Sutton-Beres-Culler

Sutton-Beres-Culler, I sculpture trio (minus one) that visited us last wednesday night shared their sculptural works and discussed what it takes to make effective three dimensional objects. Site played a huge role in nearly all of the pieces they presented to us. It seemed as though most of their works were somewhat comical and almost satirical in nature. From the drive through gallery to the park bench and even the asian restaurant inside a gallery, the site they choose and what goes it in usually seems to reflect a place where the decided object would not usually be. Limited not only to comedy, Sutton-beres-Culler also utilized site in a more utilitarian way in means of beautifying the urban landscapes around Seattle. Chalk friendly sidewalks, trolly car man-hole covers and even renovated gas stations, it appeared that the group also cared deeply for the community they create in and what they can do to make it a better, more artistic space to live in. The main thing I think I will take from all of this is that site is much more important than I had once thought it was. It can be used as comic relief, or even a serious means of telling a story about a place or time. I'm not sure how this will exactly tie into my upcoming projects but I believe it has weighed heavily in my brain. I hope to take advantage of its intricacies in my artwork sometime in the future.

Visit to the Henry

Ken Kelly, USA - 1994 acrylic

Untitled (Bow's)

The piece pictured above represents a strong usage of positive and negative space. The wavelike tentacles that traverse the painting offer intrigue in both the white (positive) and black (negative) shapes. Additionally the piece utilizes symmetry and rhythm to give the viewer a sense of the organic nature of the piece. 

The Henry Art Gallery main exhibit was a large, interactive piece created in harmony with three artists: John Sutton, Ben Beres and Zac Culler. The piece created in 2010 is a collage of 154 paintings directly selected by these three artists from the Henry collection. The piece is also comprised of a aluminum track supporting a large digital camera and LED lights which broadcast a video signal to a console in the next room. 

I believe the main concept the piece was trying to touch on was the ever increasing encroachment of technology into the traditional arts. Most famous paintings now-a-days can be viewed online but when viewed in this fashion lose a significant amount of the substance. The act of viewing a painting in real life is something that cant be recreated, even with the best technology money can buy. By using a remotely operated digital camera I believe Sutton,Beres,Culler were trying to play on this idea that artistic viewing is now largely mediated by technology.