LINKS IN A CHAIN

The search for significance in the contemporary art landscape

As an American Artist trained in the mid 1970’s I have searched for a sense of meaning, lets call it significance, in the practice of the visual arts. This is a short story of what that journey has meant to me.

THE BEGININGThe Stevens Gallery co-op Gallery, Minneapolis Minnesota 1975

Conceptual Art, Earth Art, Kinetic Art, Performance Art, Feminist Art, Pluralism, These are some of the key concepts that swirled about within the dialog of Contemporary ArtAnd as a young art student I understood and became well versed within these various idioms. But I felt lost I felt that I needed more I needed to feel connected to art history and at the same time I needed to own my personal voice. To find my unique self.

ARCHITECTUREI grew up in Chicago

When I was Student at The Minneapolis College of Art and Design I asked my college professor ,Aribert Munzner, how to reconcile my feelings of disconnected disinterest in contemporay art dialog with my desire to be a part of the larger art dialog. He asked me what I did when I was 4 years old. Well I grew up in Chicago and so of course as little kid I used to make cities, and buildings. I drew them, I molded them in clay, I built little skyscrapers with sticks, that’s what I did, I played city. All the time, and I was happy.

EREHWON 1975-76 Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Munzner suggested that the key to finding my place within the contemporary art world would not be found in pursuite of the multiple isms and art paths I studied within my formal art training but rather the key was hidden deep within my own personal history. It was hidden within the things I made when I was 4 years old. He told me to go to my studio and make one building.I went back and I made a single small scale wax building and I returned a week latter. Professor Munzner smiled and instructed me, “ now go make 10. “ I did.

The next week he uped the count to 100 and as time went by I ended up creating a huge imaginary city that I called Erehwon. It was 30 feet long and 15 feet wide and it held thousands of structures each with its own story.

EREHWON33 feet long 12 feet wide 1975-76wax

When it was complete it had become a legendary piece of art and It was well loved across the spectrum of the art community centered around the College as well within the wider community. I had created a work of art which had no pretension no desire to fit into the dialog all around but which represented my personal vision. Add on

ISLE REFUGEE1976 wax about 16 feet long and 8 feet wide

BLUE POINT1977 about 4 feet long

PENTALANDIA AT NIGHT1976-77 collection The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota20 feet across

PENTALANDIA AT SUNSETWhen displayed it has an elaborate light show that tracks the course of the sun

TEACHING IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL ARTISTS

It helps us verbalize the unexplainableOr not

MIGHTY MISSISSIPPICollection The Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance company, St Paul Minnesota 1981

DETAIL MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI44 feet long 4 feet tall encaustic mapSaint Louis Missouri

ALLYN Robert Thompson Gallery Minneapolis 1985An interactive social sculpture24 feet long

GLOBEA collaboration with Remo Compopiano1985 encaustic Exhibited at the Minnesota Museum of Art 1986

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTUREOpus Corporate headquarters, Edina Minnesota1986 24 feet long encaustic

GENERAL MILLS1984 encaustic 6 feet tall

LORING SUITE6@ 24 x 24 cast resin chronology of the neighborhoodCollection Peoples Art Committee, Loring Park, 1987 Minneapolis Minnesota

LORING 1800The begining

LORING 1920The first built city surrounds the pond

LORING 1960The city is in its second development

MY FATHERS FATHERS FATHERS HOUSECast resin 24 x24 1987Private collection

FALLS IN BLUECast resin 1987Private collection

FALLS IN GREEN Cast resin 1987Private collection

APPROPRIATION DUERERThe gift of the magi one of 6 198911 inches tall ceramic

APPROPRIATION GIOVANNI BATISTA MORONI

Count Secco Suardi one of 6 198910 inches tall ceramic

LAMPI only made about 200I made ceramic lamps for about 4 years and they sold very well but I got bored and moved on

SYMBOL1989 bronze about 2 feet longPrivate collection 1989

GLORIA CIVITA 200 CEThe history of rome created and destroyed and created again on a 12 x 12 foot base involving performances and thousands of buildings1985-1991

GLORIA CIVITA 200 BCEAs it was in 1989

GLORIA CIVITA The year 0

GLORIA CIVITA Its final location, Avon Minnesota 1991

GLORIA CIVITA 1500 CE

THE WATER FRONTCeramic 19901 foot long designed to be displayed on a wall

ROCCASTRADAOne of 9 scultpures created on my return from study in Italy1992 about 3 feet long

THIS RIVER THIS PLACEThe lobby of the Ninth Federal Reserve District,Minneapolis ,Minnesota 199735 feet long

THIS RIVER THIS PLACESome of the 270 unfired 20 inch long and 20 inch deep blocks used in its creation

THE EDMUND FITZGERALDThis River This Place each block tells a unique story from thr 9th federal district

THE TWIN CITIESCollection Lindquist and Vennum PA, Minneapolis Minnesota 1995About 12 feet long ceramic

NITY GRITY CITYCollection Merchant and Gould Pa, Minneapolis Minnesota 1996Concrete about 8 feet longOne of 36 corporate commissions

THE ORIGINAL GARDEN LIGHTSTowers are about 2 feet tall and they light upThese were created in editions of 45 multiples of 12 stylesThey are garden sculptures created between 1991 and 2001

WOMANS RIVERAbout two feet long ceramic 2002

MAP OF SIXTH STREET STROLLA collection of 23 bronze sculptures installed along a two block long city walkway in Minneapolis Minnesota 2000

EXHIBITION HALL TOWERAbout 2 feet tall bronze one of the23 sixth street stroll pieces

ST ANTHONY MAIN6th steet stroll

OUR LADY OF LOURDES6th street stroll

MILL CITY DANCEDesigned for the cedar riverside LRT station and installed as a 150 foot long public art work each tower about 10 feet tall 2002 steel

BABYLONThe 4th tower

LOBBY CALIFORNIA BUILDING GALLERYI ran the gallery from 2002 until 2008 Babylon was created here

BABYLON IN THE SUMERIAN ERABabylon like Gloria Civita was an extended performance and narrative sculpture creating and destroying and re-creating a history of Mesopotamia present day IraqIt was a war protest

BABYLON IN ITS STUDIOThe project had a dedicated studio between 2002 and 2008

BABYLONAkkad the 4th city layer upon layer of history the piece is documented in numerous news items videos pictures and a narative

BABYLON Each phase of the project was based in the history of the region of present day Iraq it’s a long story 12000 years at least

BABYLONYes I really did destroy all I had made and every year I rebuilt on the ruins of my previous workJust like reality

BABYLONAfter the destruction there were 5 ceremonial destructions of 5 key empires the war is unending and the US invasion was only one of many attempts to subdue the region.

BABYLONStudents are baffled. Creation and destruction share the same stage

BABYLONIt was a very large piece

BABYLONThe map shows the area occupied by Babylon its 20 feet long

BABYLON IN ITS LAST INCARNATIONThe central tower is 7 feet tall Babylon will reappear in July 2010 at The Minneapolis College of Art and Design Gallery as part of the McKnight fellowship Exhibition

BABYLONThe thesis is that the war in Iraq was only the most recent assault on this mother root culture

BABYLONThe destruction events were very elaborate more than 10,000 people visited Babylon in its life span

BABYLONDetail inside detail inside detail inside detail

BUT THEN AGAINThere’s the rent

VENETIAN TOWERGarden towers continue even now

LUCCAWith a bit more color

SAINT MARKSMy people like their land marks

PETROSINELLAAnd the all time favorite is?????Its not all serious ya know?

YOU CANT GET THERE FROM HEREOnce I found these cool rocks in the black hillsThis one is about 14 inches tall

CATHEEDRAL ROCKAnd sometimes its just pretty and yummy

SQUARE MAPI still love my maps This one is about 16 inches long

CONFLUENCEThey are ceramic now but its really the same idea as the wax ones done in the 70’sThis one is 30” long

THE EXCHANGE IN CHICAGOI draw every day and now when I travel I take a drawing kit withStudy is importantThis one is 24 inches tall

CASS GILBERTAnd I still have my hero’s

FIRE DANCEDrawing lets me experiment with new ideas

FOSHAY SUNDAY MORNINGI love to draw in the early morning light and on Sunday morning the cities are empty

FOSHAY COLOR STUDYThe Sunday drawings lead to many spinoffs and I can play with form and color

ITALIANATEI am constantly creating new designsThis one is part of an edition of multiplesIts about 16 inches tall

THREE TIERI am learning to get very tall this one is 6 feet tall and the collector who owns it put it in a skyscraper apartment in ChicagoI feel like I am coming home

WILSHIREAfter I closed the gallery and studio I left Minneapolis to wander other cities

RED I am always learning and I simply follow my art

BLUE LOS ANGELESI find kilns in cities I visit and I am free to createIt’s a blast

THE WIGLEY BUILDINGAs in drawing I study real structures but I will never get it straightI am in the same place I was back in 1974 maybe even 1964

MASTERYWith technical, conceptual and intellectual masteryOne can extend the lessons learned in life or the arts

TEACHING TEACHERSWhen artists are teachers and teachers are students the chain is formed linking us to a past extending back 12000 years and if one student or one artist is influenced by our actions then we become significant as a link in the chain of continuity.

100 TEACHERS “CIVITAS URBANUS”My next massive work will teach 100 teachers who will each instruct 100 students in so doing they will produce 10,000 iconic metaphorical representations of people as architectural representations. “civitas” the city of living people” forming a city of artistic evidence “urbanus, the city of brick” a city of content and meaning linked to the ancient past and pointing into a distant future.

BUT THAT’ OKAYBecause I know I am one of a million not one in a millionand that defines significance.