Large scale installations constructed out of wooden elements lead to lots of wood scrap, and when your main painting ground is random wood scraps, that is a very good thing. While I was cleaning studio recently, I found a project that I had started several years ago that is actually quite similar to the totems that I had started this spring. Pieces of segmented 2×4 were shaped into blocks, painted in pastel and adorned with robot heads. I would then stack them at random, allowing people to play with my work as they wished.
It is shocking to find that what you took a year to muddle through in an academic setting is actually something that you had already figured out and forgotten about. Does this mean that I have actually thought of no new ideas while in school? This is quite possible. In fact it is beginning to seem quite probable. As I know that I enjoy working, and have considerably in the last year and a half, I wonder what it is that I need to do to step out of this box that I have created for myself.
That all said, I enjoy this little box. I don’t think I am completely ready to leave yet. These robot blocks are pretty great too.
