OBJECTNESS IS SUBJECTIVE
"It is a natural compulsion to categorize things, to give them a specific name. To understand an object through language is comfortable and orderly, a tidy way to organize the world.
But, the grey areas stretching between those tidy boxes are full of interesting things, uncanny objects that won’t quite fit in one place or the other. It is within these grey areas I seek to reside."
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
"After learning to draw an artist rejects drawing as a primitive tool of art making, only to rediscover its vital importance again. There is a prosaic relationship between two-dimensional and three-dimensional art making. These drawings are quick, intuitive and done on newsprint, a non-archival paper or low material that is not
meant to last. By using this material I am able to work quickly without hesitation or self-consciousness. I have bridged this material to create three-Vdimensional objects by cutting, folding and taping. They become ghosts of tools, they dream about function, but have no desire to perform themselves. From these paper objects I go on to fold wax and metal as if it were paper, making the same gesture as a drawing. The ability of the drawing to pervade the aesthetics of my work across media boundaries, gives the work its character. The more the lines blur between media, the more the work seems to grow and change on its own. The drawings are able to freeze a fleeting thought of a tool. The precipitated work doesn’t worry whether or not the tool will work."
![]()
"The way I see is present in the work. The details and even flaws I observe in existing objects and structures become attributes in the work. The images I ingest and internalize become a visual library to draw upon. The artist as curator is present in the work; discerning, arranging, accepting and rejecting influences and direction. Many people may see the same thing, imbibe the same knowledge, hear the same story. It is in the retelling, in the interpretation or the re-presentation that individual vision is given an opportunity to create new meaning."
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
"Sometimes when an object is emotive there is an irresistible urge to attach a narrative to it. Often the viewer feels a deep connection to the object and projects their own memory onto it, or else the object inspires a newly invented fiction about the maker – the true owner of the object. Whatever narrative comes to mind, it is the desire to find or create the narrative that makes certain objects evocative. It is no surprise that tool-like objects inspire the invention of a narrative where one can visualize the workshop or some other setting from which the object seems to have been separated."
more of Amy's work here
_________________________________________________________________________
Marina Elenskaya for Current Obsession
*all text above, including the title, is extracted from Amy Weiks' MFA Thesis An Ontology of Tools, 2012
"After learning to draw an artist rejects drawing as a primitive tool of art making, only to rediscover its vital importance again. There is a prosaic relationship between two-dimensional and three-dimensional art making. These drawings are quick, intuitive and done on newsprint, a non-archival paper or low material that is not
meant to last. By using this material I am able to work quickly without hesitation or self-consciousness. I have bridged this material to create three-Vdimensional objects by cutting, folding and taping. They become ghosts of tools, they dream about function, but have no desire to perform themselves. From these paper objects I go on to fold wax and metal as if it were paper, making the same gesture as a drawing. The ability of the drawing to pervade the aesthetics of my work across media boundaries, gives the work its character. The more the lines blur between media, the more the work seems to grow and change on its own. The drawings are able to freeze a fleeting thought of a tool. The precipitated work doesn’t worry whether or not the tool will work."
"The way I see is present in the work. The details and even flaws I observe in existing objects and structures become attributes in the work. The images I ingest and internalize become a visual library to draw upon. The artist as curator is present in the work; discerning, arranging, accepting and rejecting influences and direction. Many people may see the same thing, imbibe the same knowledge, hear the same story. It is in the retelling, in the interpretation or the re-presentation that individual vision is given an opportunity to create new meaning."
"Sometimes when an object is emotive there is an irresistible urge to attach a narrative to it. Often the viewer feels a deep connection to the object and projects their own memory onto it, or else the object inspires a newly invented fiction about the maker – the true owner of the object. Whatever narrative comes to mind, it is the desire to find or create the narrative that makes certain objects evocative. It is no surprise that tool-like objects inspire the invention of a narrative where one can visualize the workshop or some other setting from which the object seems to have been separated."
more of Amy's work here
_________________________________________________________________________
Marina Elenskaya for Current Obsession
*all text above, including the title, is extracted from Amy Weiks' MFA Thesis An Ontology of Tools, 2012