Sunday, May 02, 2010

Collaboration Land


 Glyphland. 2010. paper-mache, foliage, toothpicks, fimo, paint, glue on gatorboard glyph

A while back, Artist Troy Gua invited me to participate in a collaborative project between himself and a boat load of other local artists.  Inspired by the relationship between current simplifications of online text communication and the hieroglyphics of earlier civilizations, Troy designed and cut out individual and unique symbols or "glyphs" for other artists to complete.  Each symbol represents a collaborative relationship between the two artists,  and once finally installed at Monarch Contemporary, the individual glyphs formed a collective statement about sharing, community, and visual language.  The exhibit, "Meet Greet Rinse Repeat" just came down yesterday.

For my glyph (which arrived as a flat gator board cut-out), I wanted to go 3D.  I covered it with a paper-mache pulp, sculpting it into a series of rolling hills.  After putting on green turf, I built tiny bridges, towers, and viewing platforms out of toothpicks.  Then little fimo flowers and fluffy trees finished it off.  The result was "Glyphland". It was one of my first sculptures ever, and I wouldn't have made it without Troy's offer.   I'm very thankful to have been part of the project and I'm looking forward to many other collaborative projects this year...

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