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PHOENIX GALLERY - ARTIST: Joseph Brown

278 views · Published 1 November 2014 · 3:09 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: NYC GALLERY OPENINGS · 2014 · Entertainment

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JOSEPH BROWN: RESUSCITATION...RESPIRATION...


4 untitled sculptures, latex, fan, led lights, electronics control 2014

In 1967, while a Master of Fine Arts student at the University of Minnesota, I was making a series of clay boxes which often blew up or cracked in my gas kiln. I decided to make a latex mold of one of the pieces so that if there were problems in the firing, I could easily duplicate them. I discovered that I actually liked the inverted latex mold better than the clay pieces. To enable the latex form to keep its shape, I would stuff it with various materials. Not being satisfied with the results, I tried to inflate it to see if that worked better. In the process of blowing it up, I discovered that I liked the process of its being inflated and deflated. It had become a breathing piece. I found that a squirrel cage fan worked well for blowing air into the piece and a small clock motor with an attached piece of cutout tile worked to partially block the air, thus allowing some of the air to escape the piece. An incandescent bulb, supplied illumination. Mounting the latex piece on a stand in which to conceal the motors, wiring and bulb, resulted in what appeared to be a self contained, lighted and breathing sculpture. 

The latex sculptures in this show are an expanded and updated version of one of those original pieces. The incandescent bulbs have been replaced with LED lights, "muffin fans", of the type used in today's computers, have replaced the squirrel cage fans. The small motors with the cut rotating tiles, to control the flow of air, have been replaced with microcontroller boards and relays which I have programed using my computer. 

Music: Hybrid Time (EX) (70507-EX) licensed by smartsound.com

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