Monica Bock, Tim Brower, Daniel L. Franke, Ginger Krebs, and Amy Toscani.
Featured Artists
Curated by Ben Rubin, this group show examined the simple and direct encounter between manual based action and mechanical action. Simple devices such as coat hangers, bicycles, and dustpans were altered and explored to reveal insights about human behavior. Mechanical lungs, sexual devices, and miniature rockets were all brought together to highlight the rich and tangled relationship that humans have with our bodies and nature. The five artists chosen for this show all worked with semi-mechanical media and sculpture.
Tim Brower constructed altered bikes, that contained seats that rose with each turn of the pedals, the rider had to reverse the process before the seat went up to high. Monica Bocks melded a group of brooms and dustpans together so that their function would be impaired. In Daniel L. Franke‘s Moving Hands, a huge pulley operated medal hands that pulled thick ropes. Another motor driven piece emitted a loud slap as each metal slab turned up. Ginger Kerbs‘ Trade Off was based on the portable iron lung. Participants operated the device by pushing the central paddle back and forth between them, with their feet. While Amy Toscani constructed large sculptural forms which looked like they would move, but did not. Toscani blended the familiar with the strange and ambiguous in these works.
