Chad Curtis

I’ve been looking at the work of Chad Curtis for exhibition inspiration, most importantly the construction of my busts. Chad is working on a much larger scale than I intend to but the principle of his construction still applies. “Curtis utilizes highly processed and digitally manipulated sculptural materials like clay, plastic, cardboard, plywood and foam creating a simulated experience that recontextualizes our largely mediated lived existence. According to the artist, his work “draws inspiration from both digital technology and homebrew DIY makers examining the effects of high technology on the relationship between human beings and the natural environment.”

Panorama of Desire, 2013

On his current work, Chad states “The idea of a distinction between the biological and the industrial, or the human and the digital, and the blurring of that distinction, is explored both as subject matter in the work and also in the production. The drawings are composed digitally and rendered with marker on a homemade computer-controlled drawing machine that attempts to mimic the hand, or cast doubt on the distinction between the hand and the machine. In a similar sense, the foam landscapes are sculpted with an adapted version of the drawing machine, having been digitally modeled and rendered through a computer, numeric code, and a hodgepodge of hardware store components, which constitute a crude mechanical fabrication device. While the aesthetic of the work is that of mass production and the absence of the hand, the work, itself, is clearly a synthesis of ideas and processes that would not typically originate in the consumer environment, resulting in a displaced hybrid.”

The images below are from a time lapse video of Chad assembling his installation:

[text and images via ChadCurtis]