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| Cat Chow's 1999 'Zipper Dress' is constructed from one continuous coil of zipper. Courtesy of cat chow |
Co-opting consumerism
'Manufractured' exhibition takes mass-produced objects and tames them into art.
from the September 19, 2008 edition
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Artist Livia Marin takes this notion of painstaking process even further. For the 2007 installation "Ficciones de un uso II" she remolded 2,200 lipsticks into shapes ranging from knobs and spires to drops and pyramids, then displayed them in their chrome cases.
Artists choose a particular material because it speaks to them. Clark associated combs with childhood, the times she sat while her mother or another female relative combed her "unruly" hair. She also had an image from the 1960s of the guy with his Brylcreemed hair slicked back into a ducktail, comb stowed in the back pocket of his jeans. "Never a hair out of place," says Clark, in contrast to her own "gravity-defying" hair.
In addition to the tactile nature of these mass-produced goods – recall the satisfying feeling of rubbing a comb's teeth, or the creamy, drenching sensation of lipstick – artists choose them because they're readily available and relatively cheap. (Although Clark says with the rising price of petroleum-based products, she wishes combs were cheaper.)
By sorting and organizing objects that otherwise might overwhelm us by their sheer number, artists achieve mastery over their environment. How many times have we gone shopping for a simple household item, only to be frustrated by the endless options and choices? By co-opting the physical object, artists begin to tame the beast of rampant materialism.
"One way to understand and embrace these objects is to order and control them," Steven says. As an audience, we "outsource" our organizing to these artists and hopefully come away less cowed and more empowered.
While the underlying subject matter may be serious, the art itself is often disarmingly witty. Many pieces are the visual equivalent of a wink and nudge. One can almost hear artist Cat Chow's 1999 "Zipper Dress" saying seductively, "Can you see that I'm a strapless gown made entirely from one continuous coil of zipper?" Constantin and Laurene Leon Boym's towering sculptures might even be heard to whisper, "Come closer and see that my components are stacked china plates, teacups, and saucers."
While some of these artists do reuse china cups, bottle caps, or car parts, the art featured in "Manufractured" goes beyond recycling. The artists aren't so much pulling used material out of the waste stream as they are wading into the headwaters. Like Sonya Clark, who orders case of combs from the manufacturer, these artists are tapping the uniformity and ubiquity of everyday items.
Thinking further about the exhibition, one can see a circular pattern emerge. These goods have gone through an initial product design in the manufacturing process, an artist responds to the design and remakes or appropriates the item, creating a work of art that speaks to that product's image and status in our culture. At the end, the artist places his or her own mark, or brand, on the finished product. We, as consumers of both goods and art, are then invited to add our own associations, contributing to the ongoing dialogue that art encourages.
• 'Manufractured' will be at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Ore., through Jan. 4, 2009 (www.museumofcontemporary craft.org). The accompanying book can be preordered from Chronicle Books at www.chroni clebooks.com.1 | Page 2
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