Beyond Words

Beyond Words at the Chicago Artist Coalition, curated by Danny Floyd.
Photos courtesy of Danny Floyd.

Waste plaster casts (cut and tumbled), waste wood (laser engraved) and industrial felt, scrap metal (sandblasted), ink_244 x 274 x 8cm_2018

“Konstverktyg” is a series of discarded plaster casts made into drawing tools which require drawing surfaces that are responsive to their materiality: chalk can draw on most slightly abrasive surfaces, but plaster needs an extremely toothy surface in order to act like chalk. The surfaces were created by sandblasting and inking scrap metal taken from my father’s autobody shop, after he announced in 2018 that he intended to close it prematurely due to his failing health (this still has yet to happen, since he depends on the income it provides). The work’s title is Swedish for “Art Tools,” in reference to the name of his shop (Swede’s Sandblasting), and our distant heritage as immigrant Canadians. A shelf and brush made from post-consumer materials like industrial felt and wood waste complete each work in this series of what came to be eight discrete sculptures, pictured here as a site-specific installation for an exhibition at the Chicago Artist Coalition called “Beyond Words”, curated by Danny Floyd.