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Yong Ho Ji: Recycled Tire Sculpture

Wendy Campbell — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:00:38 +0000

Born in 1978, Korean sculptor Yong Ho Ji has a BFA in sculpture from Hongik University in Seoul, and and MFA in fine art form New York University.

“Meticulously layering cut strips of tire as the flesh for his “mutants,” Yong Ho Ji models his creatures after endangered animals, mythological beings, and humanoids akin to his favorite superheroes. Underlying his unique brand of science fiction monster making is a startlingly specific, poetically lucid, ethical critique of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), based on his skepticism towards those “who seek to challenge nature by creating an entirely new form of life through modifying genes of animals, plants, and human beings.” Scientifically speaking, Ji’s mutants are emblematic of Darwin’s evolutionary theory, which states that mutations may evolve species better adapted to their environments. Some of his mutants inherit handsome traits (long necks or muscular hind quarters), while others inherit the abhorrent traits (multiple heads) typical of Lovecraftian sci-fi imagery.” (Trinie Dalton)

To see more, visit YongHoJi.com.

Dan Bentley: Assemblage Art

Wendy Campbell — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:00:59 +0000

Born in an army hospital in Shirley, Massachusetts, Dan Bentley learned to walk and talk in Mineral Wells, Texas, and has lived in Rochester, New York since about 1978.

Dan’s “build it himself” style of education landed him at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he studied a mix of Engineering and Fine Arts, resulting in a 35 year career as a product designer.

“Since I was a child I have been fascinated by mechanical bits and pieces and how they go together to create things. My parents came to accept that I would disassemble my toys to see how they worked (and reassemble them). I outgrew my Tinker Toys early and spent lots of time building my own toys from “scratch,” putting various found and scrounged objects together to create the next go-cart or rocket. I grew up during the 1960’s when kids still had wood and metal shop classes in school; that’s where I learned the basics of how things are made and the tools used to manufacture them. My sculptures are the manifestation of the appreciation i have for the products i collect, a labor of love. My mission is to feature the aesthetics of manufactured products in unique sculpture. I collect products that have outlived their original use and recycle them as elements of my art. I strive for my art to pay homage to all product designers by continued appreciation of their talents.”

To see more of Dan Bentley’s work, visit DBentley.com or check out his photostream on Flickr.

Aurora Robson: Recycled Art

Wendy Campbell — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:00:10 +0000

Aurora Robson was born in Toronto, Canada in 1972 but grew up in Hawaii and has lived in New York for 20 years. She has a BA in Visual Art & Art History from Columbia University and is a certified structural welder. Robson currently lives and works in Brooklyn with her husband, cinematographer Marshall Coles and daughter Ona.

Robson uses everyday waste such as discarded plastic bottles and junk mail to create intricate sculptures, installations, and collages. Over the years, Robson has intercepted tens of thousands of bottles, saving them from their ultimate destination at the landfill or costly recycling plants. The fate of her junk mail follows a similar path and have now become part of her stunning ink collages.

“Deeply concerned about the natural environment, Robson sees herself as an eco-activist who uses her art to address urgent issues poetically, not polemically. She is best known for assembling cast-off plastic bottles, which she colorfully paints, into wildly inventive hanging sculptures the smaller ones sometimes containing LED lights and large works that fill entire rooms.” (Art in America Magazine Oct. 2009)

In addition to her work as an artist, Robson is Director/Co-founder of Lumenhouse, a photo studio, artist in residence program, exhibition space and community/cultural event space located in Brooklyn. She is also the founding Director of Project Vortex, an international organization of artists, architects and designers working with plastic debris – working with Project Kaisei to reduce the amount of plastic debris littering our oceans and shorelines.

Robson’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows across the United States, and has been featured in magazines such as Art in America, Juxtapoz, Artworld Digest, and the cover of Arts Houston to name a few. Most recently, she was awarded the 2010. The Arthur Levine Foundation Grant.

To see more of Aurora Robson’s work, visit AuroraRobson.com.

Nemo Gould: Sculpture

Wendy Campbell — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 15:35:42 +0000

Today I decided to catch up with the recent and “seriously silly” creations of California based artist Nemo Gould. Gould has been creating his odd creatures, robots, and kinetic sculptures from old vacuum cleaners, kitchen pots, gasoline pumps, and whatever else he can get his hands on, for more than 20 years. His work has been featured frequently in national media and is shown in Galleries and Museums throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Of his work, Gould says, “What makes a thing fascinating is to not completely know it. It is this gap in our understanding that the imagination uses as its canvass. Salvaged material is an ideal medium to make use of this principle. A “found object” is just a familiar thing seen as though for the first time. By maintaining this unbiased view of the objects I collect, I am able to create forms and figures that fascinate and surprise. These sculptures are both familiar and new. Incorporating consumer detritus with my own symbology, they are the synthesis of our manufactured landscape and our tentative place within it– strong and frail at the same time.”

Nemo is currently exhibiting at SF20 in San Francisco (September 16 – 19, 2010) and at the Visions of Paradise Exhibition at the Sonoma Valley Museum in Sonoma, California (August. 21 – November 7, 2010).

To see more of Nemo Gould’s work and to watch video of his sculptures in action, visit Nemomatic.com.

Sayaka Ganz: Sculpture

Wendy Campbell — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:00:41 +0000

Born in Japan and living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sayaka Ganz has a BA in printmaking and an MFA in 3D Study with a concentration in sculpture from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

To create her sculptures, Ganz finds discarded objects including plastic utensils, toys, and metal pieces and gives them a second life and a new home..

“The human history behind these objects gives them life in my eyes. My goal is for each object to transcend its origins by being integrated into an animal form that seems alive. This process of reclamation and regeneration is liberating to me as an artist. By building these sculptures I try to understand the human relationships that surround me. It is a way for me to contemplate and remind myself that even if there is conflict right now, there is a way for all the pieces to fit together.”

To see more of Ganz’s work visit SayakaGanz.com.

Sources: This iz Art

Nemo Gould: Sculpture

Wendy Campbell — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:10 +0000

Recently, I stumbled upon the wonderfully amusing found object and kinetic sculptures of Nemo Gould. Born to artist parents in 1975, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gould has been creating his odd creatures and abstract sculptures from old vacuum cleaners, kitchen pots, gasoline pumps, and whatever else he can get his hands on, for more than 20 years.

Named after the protagonist in Windsor McKay’s comic strip “Little Nemo in Slumberland,” Gould’s work has fittingly evolved to reflect the images and mythology of comic books and Science Fiction. Equally as fitting is his tendency to collect and dismantle anything with moving parts.

Gould has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Masters of Fine Arts from U.C. Berkeley. After graduation, he quickly threw himself into the pursuit of his childhood dreams. “My work appeals to the 7-year-old boy mind, because I still have one… I take silly very seriously.”

Over his career, Gould has produced a prolific body of work that attempts to reconcile the innocent wonder of youth with the dull complexity of the adult experience. “Most adults are dangerously lacking in wonder. As we age and learn more of the answers to life’s mysteries, I think we lose part of what keeps us alive. When I am working, I am always trying to make things that can produce a child like response from a jaded adult—it’s a matter of life and death!”

Gould has exhibited in numerous galleries and museums across the United States and abroad and has been featured often in national media, including Wired and Juxtapoz magazines.

To see more of Nemo Gould’s work and to watch video of his sculptures in action, visit Nemomatic.com.