The above photo is an example of the third type of sculpture that I do, called "Art Machines", ostensibly "manufactured" by the "Keister Corporation", a mythical company. There haven't been any new examples of this body of work since I started writing this blog, so I've not mentioned them previously. However, having sold a couple of them last weekend, and needing to replace the "Terrorist Detector", I made this variation of that piece, and it is called the "Evil Detector". This is a reflection of my belief that we are threatened from within, not just by terrorists, but by other groups that have had an impact on our government and hence on our lives. This is a way for me to work off some of the frustration I am feeling about the way things are headed.
The Keister Corporation, however, is a broader concept than just that, and has a rather extensive backstory which I'll summarize as follows: I like to imbue the pieces I call “Art Machines” with narrative elements, something that just doesn’t find a line of expression in my other sculptural mediums. The narrative allows me to gently satirize science, engineering, politics and consumerist culture. Produced by the “Keister Corporation”, the pieces are portrayed as devices to solve a specific problem or address the needs of a certain population. The metal tags, commonly attached to “serious” machinery of the 1920s to roughly the 1950s, are of my own devising and continue the Keister Corporation narrative.
The common matrix the pieces share is the box structure, but that is usually violated in one or more dimensions by elements of the piece. In addition to the box itself, the pieces consist of recycled and repurposed materials from a variety of sources. The brass structural elements are meant to convey qualities of solidity, structural integrity and quality of manufacture. They are fun to build, but somewhat beyond the limits of some people's concept of "ART". Hmm, maybe that's what makes them fun . . .
