Peak Pandemonium

Peak Pandemonium

This is a project I'm working on to raise awareness about the coal mining industry's method of mountain top removal.  It's an interactive piece in which the audience will remove the top of the circus-themed mountain I've constructed and inside they will find free prints.  On the back there is a written description of the form of mining and the irreversible effects it's had on the family's and land of the Appalachian Mountain Range.   On the front of the paper, there is an image of a business man playing with toy mountains, blowing of the tops for pure enjoyment.

 

This piece will be installed at Alpine Valley Ski Resort for a few weeks outside of the main chalet.  After that it will travel from place to place around Milwaukee.  Keep an eye out for the Peak Pandemonium.

Janson's Final

Okay... So this doesn't look like a whole lot, but for me, the project represents most of my trouble with public installation.

My project aims to address legality in a non-aggressive way. This is a grocery cart that was found on Fratney and Clark, at least five or six blocks from it's real home, and in a sense, this cart is graffiti and this cart is littering. There will be a time in the near future that somebody will need to address the issue of the cart, and instead of living at the Co-op, it will find it's way home. Although I didn't move this cart, I altered it. I didn't spray paint the cart because that involves labor intensive cleaning or disposal. I also didn't permanently alter the cart by bending it's parts, or breaking the wheels, but instead decorated the cart with natural and biodegradable materials. The yarn holding the pieces in place is easily cut, and the cart is conveniently placed by trash cans and recycling bins. The works aren't very confrontational, and in a way could be cute. When the cart is moved, my pieces might swing, and they might even make noise. They could be cute or they could be annoying. I think it's important to understand the context of these pieces.

This project is an introduction to a hypothetical larger project in which I address legality in subtle ways. It's important to me to confront this issue because finding permissioned spaces has become such a hindrance to the momentum of my projects. Although it could be, It's a step that doesn't need to be taken in the process of art making.

I'm having some trouble describing this idea, so I might add to this post tomorrow...

Old Man Stands Awkwardly.

On the side of Northstar Music on 69th and North.

I kind of ran into a slight snag when it came to displaying this, so I eventually asked the owner of this music store I go to if he would let me put this up on the side of his building. He agreed to let me do it, but just temporarily, so it was only up there for part of saturday, but here are a couple images of what it looked like.

Bookmarks.

Front. Back.

So, I went to the Wauwatosa Library and talked to a couple of the staff members there. They were more than happy to take a small stack of the bookmarks I had made and put them out for people to take. Unfortunately I didn't get to see where they put them so I don't have a picture of that. I also ran into some problems when it came to putting them in books and taking pictures, they let me put them in and take pictures, but I could not leave them there so I only have a couple pictures to show from it.

shower curtains, WHAT???

Studio Deep End Branding Irons

Cast Bronze branding irons made by Arthur Talayko and Molly Noyes

The Real Cost Of Food

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Janson, Cara, Patrick Mural: All hung up!

Size: 8x16 ft

Vedale and Janson's Mural on Center St. in Riverwest

Thanks to Mark Lawson for providing the space for this mural.

Images of the Mural Julio Cordova, Molly Noyes, and Ryan McVey installed just South of 13th and Mitchell on the side of the El Rey building.

ReLief Printed Tennis balls:)

I'm still in the process of printing these on paper but I REALLY LIKE the pattern Designs!! ( sorry for the blurry photo:( lol

MUD STENCILS: Tears of Joy & Tears of pain..

FIRST TIME stencil woes...I finally got the hang of it by the end:) I can honestly say that "COLIN MATTHES WAS RIGHT!!":) Most of the issues I faced with my stencils came from the water absorption in the cardboard paper...

So I had to work around that little problem, but luckily the weather was on my side. The colder it got outside, the stiffer my wet boards became, so as I printed one stencil, I would just wait for the other to freeze up and dry.

Also, the light wash of the mud turned out a lot better because of the cold too! Things eventually got better and people walking by liked it a lot.

parachutes.. at night!

since my last attempt looked like a blue plastic bag stuck in a tree I reinforced the parachute shape by painting acrylic medium and glue on the inside of the fabric and letting them dry on balloons. I also decided to hang the parachutes from a thin thread instead of trying to throw them into trees in case they returned to their state of looking like plastic bags. I think the end result turned out a lot better than the first run. I put two in Bay View, one on KK and one on Howell by the Sky high skate shop. One by the 15 Bus stop on Brady St by the Walgreens, one by the Cream City Collective across from the Riverwest Co-op, and one on Van Buren near the intersection of Juneau. I have more that I can reinforce and continue to put up around the city.

Vedale and Janson

So, this project was a lot of fun to put together once the print was done and Vedale had the stencil made. We had some issues with the primed surface (I'll explain this in a moment), and found ourselves without hanging materials. Both Vedale and I came to the plate with very different mediums and compositional ideas. We had a general focus of a left side focal point and a right side focal point, but more specifically, my woodcut was very wide and took up a lot of space, and Vedale's stencil was super narrow and tall. So coming to the plate with these things was really tough, but I think it's better to need to problem solve anyways. Ultimately we got to working and the process of collage became really super intuitive and a lot of fun. Because of the scale of my print, both Vedale and I needed to make some adjustments. I needed to tear mine down a bit on the side, and Vedale needed to be a little less specific with placement on his stencil. These issues are very small, and it wasn't a problem to work together. Communication was super easy and a lot of fun.

Lastly, as we were putting the work up, we were having some issues with getting the paper to stick to the primed surface. A few days after the work went up, I heard from a couple people that one of the sides came down, but I couldn't have really anticipated how much. I'm really intrigued by the process of decay. This piece came down very precisely, like it was literally cut down the middle, but if you notice it's just on the pattern's breakline. When we put work up outdoors, something that's interesting to consider is the application and then almost more important than the content of the work, how does it interact in the space on it's own? The process of printmaking is a tedious one, and putting work up anonymously is like giving the work away. By the simple act of working without a signature, you're setting up a narrative for the viewer. Like "who would take so much time on this, and not leave an artist statement?". Or "this wasn't here yesterday".  As the work sits on it's own, it encases it's own lifetime, it will decay, and it will interact with the environment. Maybe part of your print will tear off because of the wind, maybe someone will diss it, maybe inks will run or the paper will yellow. These are things that don't happen in gallery setting. They are traits that describe time and discussion between work and environment. So honestly, I think it's something to embrace and investigate. Maybe work with handmade paper, and control that decay? Maybe control the stickiness of the wheatpaste, is it necessary for the work to have a long lifetime on the street?

-Janson

Janson, Cara, Patrick Mural: in progress

Janson wheat pasting away!

Cara, Trish, and Jasmine

IN PROGRESS SHOTS!
(Not the best quality photos... sorry.)


That's all for now!