Provisional Geologies

Provisional Geologies 1, Logan Lape
wood, clay, clamps

Provisional Geologies 1, Logan Lape
wood, clay, clamps

Provisional Geologies 2, Logan Lape
wood, clay, clamps

The Provisional Geologies pieces were the starts of series utilizing the formation process of geological features--mountains, valleys, terrain--as a vocabulary for acts of attraction, connection, love and lust. The scale of the created landscapes in a physical and timely sense allow me to begin to touch on thoughts of temporality and impermanence. The incorporation of the process into the display of the works emphasizes the importance of force acted upon the clay material over the resulting object. An event has occurred leaving the viewer only with a residue or clue as to the act.

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Other work at the conference

Unknown title/artist (Ship. steel, glass, ceramic) Chico State
Source: Huffington Post

The large, steel ship-like installation at the Chico State exhibition commanded a space and my attention better than most work I saw at the conference. The hanging of the steel and implied shape from the ribbing presented very cleanly and the exposure of the makeup of those "ribs" through the fallen/broken section forced me to mentally interact with the materials with an exciting sense of mystery.

Arranged Degradation No. 2, Michael T. Hurley (website)
Chico State

Hurley's use of specimen-like arrangements of crosscut earth formations intrigued me. I found his depictions of entropy or frozen states of decay (degradation) to function very successfully.

From a series of cups with secrets at the CCA show

So 1) not this particular cup and 2) take the moment to love that I stole this from Instagram because I had no photo myself.

What I enjoyed about these mugs was the accompanying text that explained the pricing structure and how the embedded content affected the value of these otherwise near identical objects. It was nice to see a project incorporating a social element and the play on commodity with the cups was the right amount of funny.

"Drum", "Guitar", "Drum"
Sean Leahy

Alright not to get myself in trouble playing favorites in-house, by Sean's setup just felt near flawless. The shift put in place by the "found" objects made the piece and provided a powerful context for them to exist in. +1 for funny but not a one-liner.


The work as a whole at the Southern Oregon University show just felt like smart experimentation and a refreshing, forward was of thinking about clay as a medium. I enjoyed the delicateness of much of the work as well as the interactivity and intricateness of some of the works.

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Clayton Keyes

What impressed me throughout Keyes’ lecture was the way in which he navigated through utilizing politicized content in ways that were still, as his statement says, human and relatable. I think Keyes and the work approach these ideas through a route of caring and concern for the human condition that I find very approachable.

The work consists primarily of figurative sculptures at life- and half-size. The surface treatment of the figures is notable; smooth, waxy textures that can appear very fleshy and soft or rough and scaly. A piece from the presentation that stuck with me was Arrival. Drawing from the photo-based works of Brandon Ballengee who has been documenting the deformations found in frogs due to pollution, Keyes’ created a newborn form mirroring the mutations found in the amphibian specimens. This making of what can be dismissed as a non-human problem into an unignorable human form brings up for me the exact emotional response his statement addresses: “to impress upon the viewer the experiences of the oppressed and to draw from them empathy for such.” Other work from this series, Legacy, address the future to be faced by the children of the current generation. What environment are we leaving them and what repercussions must they face for their inheritance? Throughout this part of the presentation I thought about the role of science fiction a few times. Insomuch that sci-fi ultimately brings forth moral situations to help ensure a better future for humanity. Can what we make have that power? What is the power of visual experience? I feel that Keyes’ believes that his work does have this ability and that faith is shown through the treatment and commitment to the figures.

 

I find myself trying to relate this back the The New Aesthetic Tumblr blog (http://new-aesthetic.tumblr.com/) and it’s “material which points towards new ways of seeing the world, an echo of the society, technology, politics and people that co-produce them.” While Keye’s focus can be more on the personal or physical, the missions to bring about visionary awareness are similar.