Turn Your Head And Look To The Future

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Gas - It's Forms and Functions

241
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I'm reading another book this evening in bed as I most often do... or excuse me... this morning — but for some reason I'm reminded from it - a work I did in college that I do not own or even have documentation of anymore. This piece of art or maybe more aptly put 'industrial design' is of great interest to me this evening. I'm believe I was 21 when I made this work... so thats almost 10 years ago.
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I found 2 shopping carts that were abandoned in my backyard and brought them into the house. At the time I was living with the artist Scott Michael Newman and the artist David Williams was living upstairs from us. So anyways, I brought these two shopping carts (KROGER supermarket) into the house. They were your older fashioned metal-rod cart with grey plastic'ated metal rods and steel tubbing making up the structure - maybe it was aluminum... point made... they were metal... not the plastic that you see in most carts today. I removed (by cutting with hack saw) the wheels from both carts and then cut the left side off of one cart and right side off of the other. I removed the front drop-down portions from each as well. Then, because I didn't have a welding touch, began the sew the 2 carts together at the cut front and exposed side portions with plastic encased wired (more a weaving than sewing... but the same idea). After this was complete I added rubber feet to the cut rods which used to function as wheel legs, but were now just 'couch' legs. In the end I was left with a comfortable couch that would seat 3 people easily. The next step was to produce cushions custom built to fit these shopping cart couches - with its own grocery store theme. But I never got to this step.
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We moved the unfinished grey couch on the back porch, because it took up so much space in the small living room and it didn't have cushions yet and thus wasn't a functional couch and actually worked well on the porch (maybe thats why it was really there... we needed some where to sit). It stayed out there a few weeks without incident.
After classes one day, as I rode my bike into the yard and found that the couch had disappeared. A week later another artist who we were great friends with, David Skorepa came to our house and said that he had seen the couch on the second floor management space at our local Kroger. We all new that the shopping cart truck drove around town picking up lost carts all the time... but were amazed they had taken the couch... as it or they were no longer functional carts. So after a drink and a few smokes, we all ventured down to the local Kroger which was only 3 blocks away, only to find that - yes... the couch was now being used by Kroger staff in the management portion of the store, which was located on a second floor level above the checkout lines
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I'm not sure why I am reminded of this work that I produced this night... or what may have triggered me to remember it. But I'm realizing tonight that it 'is' a work of art that I had not seriously considered.
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My plan is to now develop 5 new couches and complete them with designer cushions and pillow sets — display all 5 in a gallery within 1 year along with selected documentation of the process. Each of the 5 carts will be from a different shopping center and the themes that each couch is based on (cushion and pillow prints) will be exclusive to that stores products and branding. Probably what I have available to me locally.
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KROGER - PUBLIX - WALMART - K.MART - TARGET - HOME DEPOT - LOWES - STAPLES - OFFICE MAX - etc.
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Maybe I can work it into an even 10 or more, if I can find the stores... we'll see... but this is project that has to be brought back and finished. It made sense when I did it the first time and it makes more sense to me now 10 years later.

If It Could Make The Grade It Would Sell On Television

240
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To Watch It Bloom Is A Nested Action

239
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Pictured Stories In A Picture Postcard

238
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Bold Statements Followed With Soft Cheeses

237
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Never Expected To Break The Methods

236
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Dreams That Got Away And Realize Themselves Free Of Me

235
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Death And Romance A Lovely Lost Fiction

234
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I Hate When You Call On The Phone

233
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Everything Seems To Pull My Up Or Down

232
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Theology Is A Term And Nothing More

231
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I Hate Modern Music

230
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A Blink And Then A Flash Of Black Noise

229
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No Bother To The People Of Front Street

228
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And You Don't Like French Kissing

227
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Fishstick'n Bedpost Lick'n

226
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 15, 2007
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A. BARKER - Niagara Falls Mash-Up A (4"x9" postcard)
J. KANKA - Niagara Falls Mash-Up B (4"x9" postcard)
J. KANKA - Moved Right Back Into Her (4"x5" postcard)
S. NEWMAN - Dog Poster (envelope)

Never Trust Children Or The Children They Spawn

225
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 14, 2007
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F. OLIVE - (package)
S. SCHAEFER - (package)
J. VICTORE - (package)
J. ZIMMERMAN - (package)

A Wicker Basket Was Laid Out To Soak In The Noon Day Sun

224
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Fat Cheeks And Swollen Chewing Gum

223
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My Hands Stretch To Far In Pictures

222
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Mother Put It Forth, But I Thought It Third

221
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Hanging with my pal Matt Lane Harris at his gallery opening at Bare Hands Gallery in Birmingham, Alabama a while back. Of course sporting my Harris original t-shirt as well. But anyways... isn't that Britney Spears piece Matt did sweet? Well that ones mine... hands off.
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 10, 2007
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GARCIA - (package)
I. KUTZBACH - (package)

Beat Your Children To Beat The Heat

220
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I Like A Lollipop Laced With Drugs Said The Singing Lady

219
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Box The Whole Before The Whole Boxes You

218
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You Need To Sit Back And Wait

217
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New Brands Of Sonic Sneakers To Sneak Away With

216
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Corn Flakes In My Steak Bowl

215
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Forms That Signify A Lack Of Balance State The Obvious

214
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Depth & Grace On A Moonlit Park Swing

213
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I FInd Older Things To Be The Finer

212
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