TITLE: Conveyorscape
MATERIALS: 25-cent Coin-Operated mechanism, fabricated
steel, carved wood, paint.
DIMENSIONS: 40" x 10'-8" x 48
DATE: 2002
TITLE: Landscape Dispenser
MATERIALS: Fabricated steel, acrylic, carved foam, pigment,
electronic parts, paint, 50-cent coin mechanism
DIMENSIONS: 4' x 8' x 2'
DATE: 2003
DESCRIPTION
CONVEYORSCAPE: Viewer pays 25-cents to activate landscape
to move approximately 1/3 of a complete revolution. LANSCAPE
DISPENSER: Viewer pays 50 cents to see 1 foam landscape
go through the mechanism, run slowly down conveyorbelt to then
fall through and become destroyed by spinning blades. The demolished
landscapes pile up in a clear container.
STATEMENT
For much of my life I have been fascinated by the juxtaposition
and tension between the human-made and natural worlds. The extreme
manifestation of this relationship is the frequently used cliché
of manipulating nature to the point where the life of the planet
(landscape) is at risk. On the other hand, these "vending
sculptures" may represent our coexistence with nature in
a variety of ways: They could be addressing our continuous attempts
of trying to suppress nature or perhaps show the constant need
for maintenance and lack of adaptation of machines, each representing
our paradoxical relationship with nature.
I am also very interested in interactive art where the viewer
contributes to the process of constructing, destructing, and
consuming what lies before them. In this exhibit, the viewer
is able to interact/transact with these vending-sculptures using
coinage. It is in this exchange between the viewer and the art
where the meaning resides. What is important is paying for the
experience and not for the material item that the viewer might
expect. One might ask the question, "how much is an art
experience worth?" or " is art the experience or ownership
of a thing?" The experience must extend beyond the gimmick,
the trivial, and the obvious. The financial contribution into
one of these vending sculptures is key to turning the gears
of the metaphorical machine derived from of our own creation.
Most of us cannot resist the temptation of putting tokens of
our worth into a machine that yields an experience that one
might not expect nor have any frame of reference to fully understand
what has happened. We as a culture unconsciously buy into a
contrived system that defines our material, social and spiritual
realities. We may not realize the extent of our investment and
contribution because of our cultural default of being shrouded
in a cloud of materialism and stifled by the sheer quantity
of transactions we make everyday.
BIO
When I was younger, my parents, brother and I lived in a small
rural town northwest of Yosemite. My earliest memories were
of the expansiveness of the wilderness, all of its wildlife,
and extreme weather conditions. I was also very influenced by
the machines that humans have developed to move, build, and
manipulate the landscapes in which we lived. Rusted equipment
and found objects were also quite popular in my estimation and
stood in juxtaposition to this wild setting. The world around
me, and how it was assembled and deconstructed was, and still
is, among many of my fascinations.
Some years later our family moved to a more urban, yet sleepy
surf town of Santa Cruz, California. This move exhibited yet
another contrast in my life: rural to urban. A more mechanized
world from that of an organic one, if you will. My internal
desire to constantly draw, design, and build things with whatever
resources were at hand, I began to forge my creativity by way
of painting and sculpture. I eventually received a BFA in Spatial
Arts from San Jose State University in San Jose, California,
and not long after made my way to Seattle to pursue graduate
studies at UW.
CONTACT
W. Scott Trimble
Seattle, WA
http://www.wstrimble.homestead.com