Installations

Laurel Canyon, Butterfly Windows

June 2019

acrylic enamel paint on glass windows

each window is 14 x 28 in.

Commissioned by Eric Matthew Sedorovitz

The Oasis Wellness Center Public Art Project: Wonder Wall

Wonder Wall is a public art project influenced directly by The Oasis Wellness Center’s existing themes of serenity and relaxation. The large-scale sculptures welcome students into the Wellness center to relax, revive, and find peace within the fast pace activity of the university campus. A grove of 22 foot palm trees is cut out of aluminum. Both the outline, and the cut out are stained using colourful metal patinas. Both sculptures are mounted outside of the entrance doors of the Wellness Center. The location allows students to view the work while walking through the campus and also from the garden within the Wellness Center. An Oasis is a pleasant place within the desert where water and plants can be found, or a time and space that is restful. Our project, Wonder Wall, reflects this concept visually through outdoor sculpture.

Wonder Wall was a collaboration between Trevor Curran, Jae Kitinoja, and Michelle Jacobson directed by Kari Reardon for the University Student Union at California State University Northridge.

http://usu.csun.edu/annualreport/1617/

The Grass Grows on it’s Own, is a twenty-five yard long, six yard tall text based installation cut from recycled pool covers. The text, which is inspired from a poem I wrote in a notebook documenting a month long venture on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, is environmentally driven, and sways in the wind in a similar way that sea kelp sways with the underwater current and waves. Because of the scale of the piece and the weight of the material, the text is obscured when hung. This installation is a grand gesture, and is also a call to action. The drought in California is severe and my poem is meant to emphasize that native grasslands should be left instead of replaced by nonnative plants that require considerably more water. A parallel is drawn between lawns and pool covers. The environment, and urban wildness is contrasted to the synthetic.

http://sundial.csun.edu/2014/10/surfing-frees-the-artistic-soul-of-csun-student/

The Stubborn Animals, is also created using recycled pool covers. The text was pulled directly from a notebook, and reads as follows:

“The stubborn animals will all go extinct. The stubborn animals keep going even once they realize they are driving the wrong way on the freeway, exit after exit, mile after mile. They will disappear time after time, until they are gone. They will break the water in my heart. The stubborn animals will all go extinct. The water in my heart has fallen.”

Similar to The Grass Grows on it’s Own, The Stubborn Animals is a poetic response to environmentalist issues, and estrangement to family of orgin. With this work however, the words are cut from the pool cover leaving a gap in cover where the letters appear. This allows the viewer to see through the piece. The location is used to push the viewer right up to the art, making it hard to view, and read. The viewer if forced to make the choice of looking at the whole piece, but having to read the poem backwards, or reading from left to right, but having to walk along the work while reading. 

Low Tide Blues is a painted installation covering the walls of an entire gallery. Each letter was carefully painted around in a way that covered the whole wall with paint except for the actual letter, which remained white in the negative space. The lifespan of the installation from creation to destruction lasted seven days before being painted over. The mantra “LOWTIDEBLUES” was repeated over and over. Because of the time consuming and physically demanding process of painting for as long as 15 hours straight, meditation became a huge part of this installation. The emphasis was on concentration and focus while repeating the phrase, and keeping the paintbrush lines clean. When spelling mistakes were made they were embraced and considered permanent, and the letters and words became muddled in the end. Just as fear is accepted in my notebooks mistakes are accepted in the physicality of my work, and the work becomes a beautiful mess.