Pre-Formed
2010
Plastic packages, spray paint, flocking
29"h X 26'w X 2 3/4"d (entire installation)
We tend to know what something is by how it is contextualized, what if the context is shifted? In Pre-formed, the clear packages common to hardware stores for selling quantities of small items are covered with color and texture. The combination fluorescent orange paint and stucco-like texture makes the work impossible not to notice yet hard to focus on. Surfaces transformed, the objects are rendered useless and recontextualized as art; the utilitarian packages become opaque forms reminiscent of the minimalist cube. Unlike minimalism, this project utilizes the waste of mass production rather than the techniques and materials made possible by it. By this subversion the packaging—a detritus of consumer culture—masquerades as art, as minimalism.
Please note: The color of these objects aren't in the range of most computer monitors. They are a fluorescent orange, like the color of sales tags or caution signs.