Crisp-Ellert Gallery

 

Cabinet of Curiosity

False Family

Styrofoam, fabric, wood, clay, wood glue, plastic dolls, gingerbread-man toy

8x16x14

This Piece was made in response to a story about Alex Shear, a collector of vintage toys who lost his connections to friends and family in favor of his collection. The piece is meant to represent this by have the central clay figure represent Shear and show how strange and hollow looking a family scene looks like without other people. The toy figure are meant to look out of place and poorly put together to show that these objects cannot and are not meant to replace people and will be unable to take the place of a real human connection. The couch is supposed to represent a place for family to gather but it has fallen apart and the figure connections to others has been severed

Memento

Curtains Fall

White ink, wood, fabric, wood glue

4x2.5x2.5 inches

This piece was made in the memory of my good family friend Otis and the last conversation we shared before he passed away in 2019. At a family gathering in 2019 just a month before he passed and we shared a conversation at the dining room table discussing the future in which he gave me comforting words to ease my uncertainty as a neared the end of my senior year in high school. I used the white ink and fabric to mimic that of the table we sat at and the warped shape to represent the uncertainty I felt as well as the organic flow of the conversation. The fabric is also meant to serve as curtains on peaking slightly to representing the ending of our interactions in this life, but that it was also a satisfying conclusion.

 

Figurative Sculpture

Chin-up

Clay, black ink, white ink, yellow ink, brown ink, wood

4x5x4 inches

Intimidation

clay, blue ink, black ink, yellow ink, white ink, wood, nails

4x9x3.5 inches

The figures Chin-up and Intimidation are a set made to demonstrate the growing inequity between police officers and people of color in the United States as well as the disproportionate amount violence that people of color face from the police. Intimidation depicts a police officer enraged with that anger outfaced and directed generally sitting on a crumbling but daunting. Chin-up depicts the fear that people of color have towards the police, and the need to submit and carefully follow direction so that they may live to see another day.

Statistics show that people of color are killed disproportionately by police officers. Even though half of all people killed by police officers are White, Hispanic and especially Black people are killed at a higher rate despite their lower overall population. In recent years we have seen how trigger happy and violent the police have been with multiple instance of them killing unarmed citizens or those who pose no threat to the police, with again the majority of those killed being people of color. This pattern has caused declining mental and general health in people of color especially in the next few months following these killings in people throughout the state.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/25/956177021/fatal-police-shootings-of-unarmed-black-people-reveal-troubling-patterns

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/05/how-unjust-police-killings-damage-the-mental-health-of-black-americans/

 

Experimental Sculpture

Treehouse

Black Ink, wood glue, paper, clear packing tape, balsa wood

6x14x8

Little Monster

paper, wood glue, black ink, balsa wood, masking tape

7x5x6

Wasp Nest

Clear packing tape, masking tape, balsa wood, wood glue, black ink

4x6x4

 

Water Fountain

 

To have and to hold project

Three Flying Ducks

Three flying ducks is about the art of collection and how tchotchkes, while cheap and mass produced, play a role in making collection more accessible. While not all collections require money, such as collecting used packaging for snacks, worn out shoes, and expired stamps, many others such as fine art, wine, and geodes were long inaccessible to average people. The creation of the collection also makes it more satisfying to collect as there is an achievable end goal, it is possible to complete a collection unlike many other types of collections.

https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/museum-of-brands-founder-robert-opie-celebrates-50-years-of-collecting-16-08-2013

Robert Opie collected food packaging and other one you items gathering them through childhood now having an estimated 500000 items. These items fill his home, a storehouse, museums, and exhibition spaces. His made a business out of this selling and renting his objects to film productions and selling books about his collection.

Anglers and Utopias

Collectors tend to be women but generally men tend to get sucked into their collections. The single minded focus and drive to dominate and feel successful that patriarchal societies have driven into men up to this point is a factor they contributes to this statistic. While this is not wholly a bad thing as many advancements that are made are made by individuals who think and act this way, but at the same time it has lead to wars and through them come these advancements. 

https://www.dw.com/en/wernher-von-braun-the-rocket-engineer-of-the-powerful/a-49618596

Werner Von Braun who founded the American space program also built rockets for Nazi germany to bomb London, and in bother cases his work consumed him, causing him to seclude himself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/nyregion/alex-shear-a-collector-of-american-kitsch-dies-at-73.html

Alex shear is an example of someone who has gotten absorbed into his collection, to rediscover “American innocence” through objects with character. Having many types of connections and collecting toys he used to play with. His marriage fell apart, he lost friends but he is still dedicated

With over 100000 objects in multiple warehouses he collects and salvages things from flea markets, including defective or failed merchandise as he believes these are just as important as successful products. Especially from big companies who would rather consumers forget their shortcomings. While he is successful it came at the cost of many connections.