I’m bringing the puppets back for an appearance at the New Hazlett Theater’s Halloween Party (Pittsburgh) on October 22nd, 2010. I’ll be playing a Punch and Judy-style show, plus a show that invites the audience to participate. The event theme is Grand Guignol, Theatre of the Macabre. It should be a great party!
For event details, check out the New Hazlett Website.
Warning! This puppet show is not for children.
Over the past year, my sculptural works have become a lot more abstract, but still retain some of the whimsical elements of puppetry. Being close to the Dia Beacon Museum and Storm King Sculpture Park may have influenced me somewhat. Unlike the unwieldy steel sculptures of Serra and DeSuvero, these are made out of wood, (sometimes found scraps) paint, glue, screws, and often an electric motor. They are easy to move, but are not suitable for outdoor exhibition.
When I make these, I don’t make drawings or sketches first. I work piece by piece as if I am drawing three dimensionally. I have a general shape in my head, like an old piece of farm machinery or rusty mechanical device that I recall from post-industrial Western PA. These three are Tiller, Gear and Chopper. Tiller and Gear appeared in abstrACTION, a show curated by Dara Meyers Kingsley that took place at the Arts Exchange, Westchester NY, over the summer.
Tiller, Gear, Chopper, 2010
press:
Celebrating Artists Who Keep the Action in Abstraction, New York Times
Filed under Art
I submitted this piece to the Visual Response to the Gulf Oil Disaster show curated by the Foster Collective at Landslide Gallery in Chicago. (July 23rd through August 13th 2010) The show required artists to create responses to the oil spill on gas station paper towels. I think this was a great idea. The Foster Collective did a fantastic job of covering the event on their blog.
http://fostercollective.blogspot.com/
The show now travels to the Flying Monkey Art Center in Huntsville, AL. (Saturday October 16th from 4-6pm at The 2nd Floor Connector Gallery in The Flying Monkey Arts Center. Show runs through November 3rd.)
Filed under Art
I encountered a grown man talking into a lobster microphone. It was a big red lobster attached to a megaphone. He told me a story about his mother’s talent for portrait painting and awarded a stranger with nice shoes a pot of yellow flowers. She seemed baffled by the gesture. After that I purchased a package of tapioca starch for seventy-five cents at the Asian grocery. The stuff works great for making paper-mâché. After running into the man with the lobster I didn’t feel so strange carrying around a couple puppets in my computer bag.
While driving home, I noticed a sign for the fifty-two million dollar lottery prize. Buying a ticket was tempting, but I only had twenty-five cents left after purchasing the tapioca. When I arrived, I watched MTV Cribs for about five minutes. A man was sitting on an outdoor toilet facing the ocean on a private island in the Bahamas. I turned off the TV and made some campanelle with tomato sauce.
Filed under Art
This shot was taken during installation of a piece at the MF in December of 2002. I didn’t have any gray hair then. It was right before the war in Iraq began. I was dealing with issues concerning the media spin on the impending war. What a disaster!
Filed under Art
Art Show for Rubberneckers
While I was at grad school, one of the most refreshing aspects of being away was the relief from Steelers Mania. People in other cities actually have better things to do than to be emotionally wrapped up in football for months on end. Sure, there are tons of football fanatics in New York, but their lives don’t revolve around the game. Games, for them, are momentary getaways from the bustle of life. They are not the axes of all human activity.
Bizarre Steelers displays and Steelers fashion is everywhere in Pittsburgh. You can’t avoid it. When I found out that it had invaded the Miller Gallery at CMU, I felt like a football fan on the Monday after a big loss. For the most part, I’m really interested in art that strays far from the usual gallery experience. I’m not sure if I can call the CMU project art, but I decided to give it a chance.
If you are visiting the gallery to catch a glimpse of the weird obsessions and rituals of Pittsburgh fans, then you will get a healthy dose. A stadium model built around an old vibrating electronic football game brought back childhood memories. (It’s mind-boggling to think of the gaming evolution from the buzzing electronic football to today’s life-like video games. What will fans be playing in ten years?) A plethora of Steelers tattoos offer flesh and blood proof of fanaticism. A shrine-like memorabilia room highlights the cult-like practices of extreme followers.
The conceptual thread that ties the show together is the view of Steelers Nation as a sociological force, a union of fans that stretches to the far reaches of the earth. Wall size charts document the proliferation of Steelers bars throughout the world. In CMU high-tech style, a live video feed connects the gallery to a Steelers bar in Rome, Italy. I looked into the camera, and several male bar patrons appeared disappointed. I think they were hoping to chat with a female visitor.
The most engaging part of the show for me is the Immaculate Reception re-enactment piece. A gallery attendant coached me on the play. I ran through the gallery and caught a ball that he tossed. My play was recorded on video and will be spliced into the actual television footage of Franco’s famous play. Why, I’m not sure.
Overall, the experience was an amusing one. I gave it low marks for art value, but credit for bringing the greater community in. Aside from their MFA exhibitions, The Miller hasn’t engaged the community this much since perhaps the Comic Release show of 2003.
Filed under Criticism
Vitamin C, tin can, metal space ship ornament, sock filled with couscous, wooded mallet, green tea, spoon, waterproof matches, bandage, thimble, red thread, needle, hook sharpener, fishing hooks, green flag, emergency poncho, vinyl gloves, photo memories, map fragments, doodles, tape, tick repellent, paper, pen, puppet armature, wooden box. 2010
Tom Sarver 