Parts & Labor

MIXED MEDIA
22' X 16.5"
2023

Made during the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic, PARTS AND LABOR is the great-grandchild of CINE-MATRIX (1977). It is a grid composed of 534 small ceramic rectangular frames, most of which contain a small object (or objects) from a vast collection of "things" I've been collecting and accumulating in my studio for decades. These individual objects are strategically placed, juxtaposed, and reimagined -- vertically, horizontally, diagonally, and often sequentially -- according to a variety of editorial and intuitive logics, inviting the viewer to follow (and create) the unfolding "story" of it's assembly as they move across the work from left to right along the gallery wall.

Unlike CINE-MATRIX, PARTS AND LABOR contains moving parts and electrical components, including digital clocks, analogue clocks, LED lights, a laser beam, music (Bach's Taccata in C Minor), spinning fans, a video camera and more. The work is also inscribed with many references to motion picture technology, animation, and the tools and materials of filmmaking. PARTS AND LABOR is also an expression (a testament) of my love of for tactile, the physical, and the beauty of old (and discarded) analogue technology.

Like CINE-MATRIX and much of my collage film work, it also reflects my love of working with "found" elements, of being both precise and playful with them, and of my ongoing quest to transpose my ideas about cinematic "montage" into three-dimensional sculptural form. It is my latest attempt to redefine the elusive meaning of "para-cinema."