1. Award Plaque for H. Waldenford – 2009 – Laser-engraved brass, cherry laminate, MDF – 10″ x 8″ x .5″
2. I’d Rather be Fishing – 2009 – Custom-printed ceramic – 4″ x 5.5″ x 3″
3. Window A – 2010 – Aluminum, formica laminate, fluorescent lighting – 42″ x 62.5″ x 4″
4. Under the Desk Escape Unit – 2010 – Found objects, mixed media, and video (interactive)- 65″ x 108″ x 30″
5. Untitled Ad for Roar Design – 2009 – c-print, 20″ x 30″
Artist Statement
This work re-presents a mental landscape, an office-scape, used as a symbol or stand-in for contemporary culture at large. Stemming from an interest in the exploration of the psychology of the individual in contemporary culture as contrasted with the primitive psychology of man, this work offers a synthesis that highlights the latent tension between our former modus operandi and our current structured status. While this lifestyle transformation may be recognizable in the lives of the majority, I focus on a specific grouping of individuals, those living in a maximal built environment, the urban environment, cut off from the natural world. This new normal position removes the sights, sounds, scents and behaviors integral to life in the natural world and replaces it with a myriad of man-made objects and experiences centering around the idea of function or purpose in relation specifically to the human being. No longer residing in a subsistence-based communal setting where a reactionary attitude to our environment is part of our survival technique, we now plan for our survival in a construct based in politics and the economy.
The Arts provide a unique escape from this practicality, this need for function or popularization in a market-driven economy for both the fabricator (or art practitioner) and the viewer/collector. To recognize this fact is to provide evidence of the enduring appetite to witness an idea, a feeling, or an aesthetically driven combination of color or pattern that stretches beyond the rigidity common in other areas of our experience. To some extent, the strong economy of the art market itself is evidence of the desire for the unique or rare object, rare because it was not mass produced and is not readily available. On the other hand, it must also be recognized that art objects themselves are now bought and sold purely on the basis of commodity value.
Humor, absurdity, or dysphoria may be an element present in my work in it’s often-times futile attempt to provide a response to the predicament of life in contemporary culture in the form of simulated nature. It is through this lens that my work investigates the tension between our past and out present modes of conduct.
Website
http://www.lisadillin.com
