"I have a problem. I am an image junkie. Rather than apply for the job, show up to the doctor’s appointment, or go to bed at a decent hour, I choose to troll museums, collections, websites, books, blogs, and magazines for hours upon end looking for pictures, illustrations, photographs, prints, and other visual nuggets that catch my fancy. I am always on the hunt for the next big score. Nothing is safe: painting, fashion, industrial design, pornography, landscapes, toys, architecture, portraiture; all are fair game. These images and objects are fuel – saved, cataloged, and digested for a later date.
My sculptures are the consequences of my addiction. Images and experiences come in. Mulled and digested, mashed, mixed, combined, melded hybrid objects come out. Some works are direct references. Others are vague allusions. Conceived and born during my visual explorations, the pieces are soon orphaned as I search for my next fix.
As an artist, I see my role as cocktail party host: I introduce the viewer to the work then gracefully remove myself, leaving them talking while I make sure we are not running out of party punch. Once the loose parameters for the discussion between the viewer and the work are established, it is the job of the viewer to make judgments, ask questions, and bring their own history and views to the table. I can only define Z and Y. It is up to the viewer to create their own equation and solve for X."
-- Nathan Prouty
January 2011
Thoughts:
Controlling the Experience
Distrust of the Audience
The Human Condition
American Supremacy
Mantle & Toilet Tank
Doubt vs. Assurance
Hard vs. Soft Truths
Clinging to Dogma
Go Fuck Yourself
Domestic Display
Beautiful Objects
New Materials
The Bacchanal
The Simulated
The Everyday
Point-Of-View
Transparency
Double-Take
Assumptions
A Roping In
Abundance
Unmooring
Perspective
Solve for X
The Virtual
Stereotype
Perception
Animation
Distillation
The Future
The Frame
Nonsense
Nostalgia
The War
Layering
Pleasure
Comfort
Security
Surface
Sparkle
Agape
Reality
Excess
Facets
Love
Shit
Wit
My sculptures are the consequences of my addiction. Images and experiences come in. Mulled and digested, mashed, mixed, combined, melded hybrid objects come out. Some works are direct references. Others are vague allusions. Conceived and born during my visual explorations, the pieces are soon orphaned as I search for my next fix.
As an artist, I see my role as cocktail party host: I introduce the viewer to the work then gracefully remove myself, leaving them talking while I make sure we are not running out of party punch. Once the loose parameters for the discussion between the viewer and the work are established, it is the job of the viewer to make judgments, ask questions, and bring their own history and views to the table. I can only define Z and Y. It is up to the viewer to create their own equation and solve for X."
-- Nathan Prouty
January 2011
Thoughts:
Controlling the Experience
Distrust of the Audience
The Human Condition
American Supremacy
Mantle & Toilet Tank
Doubt vs. Assurance
Hard vs. Soft Truths
Clinging to Dogma
Go Fuck Yourself
Domestic Display
Beautiful Objects
New Materials
The Bacchanal
The Simulated
The Everyday
Point-Of-View
Transparency
Double-Take
Assumptions
A Roping In
Abundance
Unmooring
Perspective
Solve for X
The Virtual
Stereotype
Perception
Animation
Distillation
The Future
The Frame
Nonsense
Nostalgia
The War
Layering
Pleasure
Comfort
Security
Surface
Sparkle
Agape
Reality
Excess
Facets
Love
Shit
Wit
