Well the first Graft Art group show is only 9 days away, and I'm getting excited. There is still much to do, but like most installations, shows, and events, the bulk of the work gets done right before things go "live." However, I've been anticipating this for months and as it inches closer, I think about it daily. How can I not, as daily I wake up in my bedroom, get ready in my bathroom, and have breakfast in my kitchen; all sites where I not only experience routine but where the art will form and the show will take place. There will be friends, people looking at and talking about art, food to eat, food as art not to eat, and it's going to be great.
I am most excited about seeing these artists graft their ideas into this space, transforming the regular use of this apartment into a place where creative imaginations take precedence over function for a couple of days. Three of the artists in this show create what I like to think of as sculptural objects that reinvent the familiar but still hold recognizable elements. Yasunari Izaki connected with this show because he's interested in this collective experience of a "contained living of NYC as well as our relationship to nature." His work merges familiar objects with the surreal, often animating furniture into something we have never seen before and yet find traces of in our memories, hopes and dreams. Gerardo Gonzalez's highly detailed and precise pieces are tiny and cause us to peer very closely. His works walk the line of what is adorning jewelry and what is high sculpture. They are like treasures, and in this apartment, displayed in the midst of many other typical elements, his work may be quite hidden but thus all the more delightful when found. Constance Slaughter makes figures and everyday objects from wire and scrim that always have a soft and ghostly appearance. Her works in this show will find themselves among similar everyday objects but with their transparent and off-white tone, they reflect more of the "fleeting moments" we experience around these objects.
You must take a look at their artwork on their websites, you won't be disappointed but rather inspired, delighted, and pretty much impressed.
Gerardo Gonzalez's drawing of a hose clamp as an inspiration for his piece.
A glimpse of Yasunari Izaki's piece for apARTment #1.
Constance's scrim and wire sculptures similar to the works she is creating for this show.