Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Ali Ruffner



Trapped
wood, drywall, screws, viewfinders, paint, sharpies
3'x3'x8'
What is the relationship between viewer and artist while they are making? What happens when parts of a piece are concealed and the viewer is forced to interact with a space they are not comfortable with? What happens to the artists mind when confronted with a small space and the pressure of making? These are the questions I explored in my final sculpture by building a "box" that I was trapped inside for 8+ hours, part of the time being watched by the audience as I let my mind unfold on the inside of the walls. With nothing but your brain to stimulate you and such a small space for making, I became nervously fascinated with the color of the walls and my imagination.

"It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw – not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things. But there is something else about that paper – the smell! ... The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell."

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