Jason Rogenes turns packing material into glowing obelisks

I had a chance to check out "Manuf®actured", the current show at Portland's Museum of Contemporary Craft. There was a lot of neat stuff, like Devorah Sperber's amazing thread-as-pixel art take on the Campbell's Soup can, Cat Chow's zipper dresses, and Laura Splan's dress made of dried facial peel (presented in front of a wallpaper made from her own blood!), but the stuff probably most germane to BBG was Jason Rogenes' work with polystyrene packing material which, when pressed into form around long fluorescent lighting and strung up with extension cables, takes on a whole new look akin to some interstellar interceptor grown from comet ice. (And completely doable as a DIY project if it matches your decor aesthetic.)

Totally a fun show and worth a visit if you're around. (The picture is actually from a different installation than the one in Portland but I think gets the idea across better than the pictures of the Museum.)

Manuf®actured: The Conspicuous Transformation of Everyday Objects [Museum of Contemporary Craft]

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by GeekMan , October 6, 2008 9:03 AM

I look at this and what do I see? Colony ship.

Or maybe some freighter hauling iridium or spice across the depths while its crew hibernates in hypersleep... at least until they're awaked by an alien infestation, or some bizzare Dysan sphere that causes waking dreams.

#2 posted by Anonymous , October 6, 2008 9:12 AM

I took my dad to see this show last week! It's pretty cool - he thought the styrofoam sculptures were neato.

You don't live in Portland, do you Joel?

#3 posted by Garr , October 6, 2008 9:53 AM

I love the ones on the wall. Would love to put one of those up in my living room.

Too bad contemporary art like this is mostly so expensive as to scare off any normal working-class person. Or maybe artists somehow all share the same dislike of the notion that their art might end up in some unworthy viewers bedroom.

#4 posted by diluded000 , October 6, 2008 10:22 AM

Spraying acetone on that would be more fun than salting slugs!

#5 posted by whiffer , October 6, 2008 11:38 AM

but if i buy one what do they pack it in?

#6 posted by themindfantastic , October 6, 2008 12:28 PM

I have to agree with #1 I was thinking it wasn't showcasing styrofoam, but rather large sculptures of sci-fi ships in the lonliness of space... I don't mind the ideas behind just showcasing off the sculptures as they are... but I dunno the nerd in me is like 'SHOW SPACE SHIPS AND STUFF!'

#7 posted by Marky , October 6, 2008 11:57 PM

So very beautiful... but the real art here is the catalog "museum-speak."

"Combining the essential properties of polystyrene (strength in compression and light weight) with its aesthetic properties (varied translucence and infinite variety of shapes), Rogenes appropriates this devalued yet delicate material and treats it as if it were a precious one, like marble or alabaster. He carves each pre-molded piece by hand before fixing it into position, using plastic-based glue as his mortar. Repeating this process with anywhere from five to 100 or more individual components, he creates pieces that recall totems, space stations, and cities in relief using equal doses of spatial intuition, careful craftsmanship and artistic vision."

Wow.

#8 posted by Brett Burton , October 7, 2008 6:50 AM

Styrofoam packing material was always a favorite for making Transformers' bases and space ships.

#9 posted by Egypt Urnash , October 7, 2008 8:41 AM

Garr, I can tell you part of why contemporary art costs so much: The galleries take a huge cut. I just had my first show the other month, and the gallery's cut was 40%. Which is low for the East Coast.

I sold a decent amount, but even if I'd gotten the gallery's cut as well as my own, I would have had to sell more to cover the printing and framing of what turned out to be a foolishly large show (78 pieces!). I could have jacked my prices up to the point where selling a mere 4-5 pieces would have covered the $3500, but the crowd this gallery is aimed at doesn't have that kind of money. Mostly what sold were the cheap pieces that ended up only giving me a few bucks back over their manufacturing costs.

And the other reason it costs so much is the possibility of this being the artist's day job. You slave several unpaid months to make enough work to fill up a gallery, or your portion of it for a group show. Not everything is going to sell. You need to cover the cost of your raw materials - and you need to cover your rent. And your insurance. And going out and having fun. And a couple months of lying around too exhausted to draw because of all the planning and socializing involved in the show.

I can't speak for all artists, but I am working-class, and it would be totally awesome to see my stuff in the bedrooms of more people just like me, inspiring their dreams. Unfortunately the economics of that only work if you can spam the world with tons of cheap reproductions. And your fans only have so much wall-space!