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"Walls
/ Windows"
Kirk Mayhew
March 30 - April
21, 2007
Opening Reception
Final Friday
March 30, 6-11pm
Kirk Mayhew is an established
ceramic artist and educator who created a new series of wall sculptures
titled, “Walls/Windows.” In this series he explores how architecture
affects our thoughts from its exterior appearance to its interior
spaces. Architecture is protective and domineering, a volumetric form
that affects us aesthetically and through scale. This sensation occurs
primarily from the exterior. Once inside our concentration quickly
shifts to the task at hand. Whether going to work, to a restaurant, or
home everyone can relate to these experiences.
Kirk has drastically reduced the
size of these exteriors, moved them off the ground, and onto the wall as
miniature buildings. The buildings have angled walls with tiny windows
that tease the viewer to look inside. Complex and playful, each
building reveals a unique interior with figures living within. The
placement of each figure, window, and wall is meticulously planned.
The miniature buildings are
contemporary yet appear to be aged over time. To achieve this two
different methods were used to create the buildings for “Wall/Windows.”
The first method used blocks of clay that was warped and shaped. The
clay was given time to become stiff and then hollowed out to create
interior space. After the interior took shape windows were cut and
surfaces were refined multiple times. The second process used
flattened slabs of clay cut into precise bricks that were dried and
assembled with clay slip. The slip acts as and appears to be mortar.
These two techniques give the artwork characteristics that are ever
changing.
“I am making an entity to be
surrounded by you.”
-Kirk Mayhew
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