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The ART of THOUGHT
Exhibition Dates: August 10 - September 12, 2008
What do you think happens when a group of artists are taken out of their comfort zone and given a kit of unfamiliar materials?
Origins of "The Art of Thought"
As part of a program in 2003 entitled, From the Neck Up, involving seven institutions in the South Bay, I organized The Art of Thought, an exhibition of works that referred to the processes of thought, spanning the anatomy of the brain, psychological tests, and creative thinking as an oasis. The exhibition was presented at Angel's Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro, California, a two-story space that offered it's own metaphor for thought, emphasized by video monitors showing the film, Being John Malkovich, at the top and bottom of the staircase joining the two exhibition spaces. The exhibition involved two approaches. Artworks responding to aspects of thought and psychological constructs, included sculpture, installation and painting by Nicola Atkinson-Davidson, Kristine Lankovski, José Lozano, Sarah Petto, Tony de los Reyes, April Tsui and Ellen Unt. Collectively, the artworks identified some of the ways we think through depictions of memories, language, and ourselves. A second approach to the exhibition included artworks generated by a conceptual system set into motion through participation by invited artists. The project involved an "art kit" of identical materials presented to fifteen artists for the creation of their unique solutions. The artists involved for the experiment were Arthur Aghajanian, Elias Bou-Assi, Therese Buchmiller, Kevin Chen, Chusien Chang, Xavier Cortez, Samantha Fields, Gretchen Gates, Jim Jenkins, Joyce Kohl, Nicholette Kominos, Bonnie Lee, Margo Mensing, Sandra Rowe and Pamela Wells. There were a few rules and mostly a limitless arena for ideas: The artists could use all the items in the kit, or as few as one; They could not use additional materials; Adhesives were eligible as long as they did not become another material; There was no size restriction for the solution. Thinking back on the solutions, the range was impressive. Arthur Aghajanian had students in his third-grade classroom draw each item, resulting in one carefully draughted object per 20" x 40" sheet of drawing paper. Pamela Wells shredded each material, whether a glass vial or copper plate, and fused all the materials together into the word, "construct". Likewise, Kevin Chen used every single stitch of contents, including the cotton padding, and made six extraordinary objects (all containers with contents) that were born to be peculiar. Jim Jenkins kinetic sculpture was operated with a hand crank. Margo Mensing's idea came from her study of George Crumb's Makrokosmos III and his mention of Pascal's "The eternal silence of space terrifies me." Xavier Cortez created a full-blown installation by seeking and presenting all the detail that could be conjured from the art kit, like a magician pulling a bear from a hat. There were solutions that were figurative, others that were pure and formal, conceptual twists, and assemblage solutions. In 2006, Thomas Ciganko, Curator for the City of Brea Gallery, organized the show, Contemporary Art and the Audience, featuring artworks that required audience involvement. This time, the transformation of The Art of Thought involved 250 kits, and viewers were invited to create an artwork from the ingredients in the box. A workstation was placed between the retail-like shelves of labeled boxes, and a patterned wall containing a grid of images of the box contents. Viewers placed their completed artworks on the patterned wall, becoming part of the exhibition, and knew they could retrieve their pieces at the closing of the show. This collaborative, yet individual expression encouraged a democraticization of art and was intended to break the boundary between art and her viewers. Though playful, it is also a serious exercise in problem solving and choices, ownership and authorship. When I use The Art of Thought in workshops or the classroom, it offers a conversation about the origin of ideas, the way we read symbol and metaphor, and the language of materials. When the kits are shared between two or three participants, negotiation and all its nuances are required. This year, Thomas Ciganko talked to me about enlarging the kits and inviting artists to join into the selection of the materials. This manifestation of The Art of Thought was born from our discussions, and it was evident from the start that Thomas was game for even the largest of materials or objects to add the mix. Since each artist was asked to suggest one of the items, the rules were modified so that each artist would use their own material and at least two more. The checklist of the box's content is poetic in itself. Each core holds inescapable meaning, humor, or peculiarity . City of Brea
Art Gallery |
