Further action is required to make this featured image accessible
The below criteria must be satisfied:
- Add featured-image alt tag (in page properties OR on image metadata in the dam)
The image will not display until the issue above is resolved.
The Art of Simple Living to Show in New York, Thanks to UC Sculptor
An ongoing Midwestern artists project amidst the lunar landscape of the west Utah desert will soon give rise to another in a New York City courtyard on Madison Avenue.
Based on work that University of Cincinnati artist Matt Lynch and his colleague, Chicago artist Steven Badgett, have been doing on a former air force base in the remote Utah desert, New Yorks Whitney Museum of American Art invited the pair to construct an architectural art work in the museums courtyard, to remain in place during the institutions Whitney Biennial from
March 11-May 30, 2004
. Only 108 artists or collaborative groups were invited to participate in the prestigious Whitney show.
Leading up to the biennial exhibit is work that Lynch, assistant professor of fine art in UCs College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, and Badgett began this past summer in the 100-degree Utah heat. There, they are remaking in a project that combines architecture and art a former military Quonset hut on the now-defunct Tibbets Air Base into a livable sculpture of simplicity. At the base, amidst the salt flats where men once trained for World War IIs Enola Gay mission which eventually led to the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, Lynch and others are now making a space for a simple, energy-conscious lifestyle in the context of a harsh, even damaged site.
Further action is required to make this image accessible
One of the below criteria must be satisfied:
- Add image alt tag OR
- Mark image as decorative
The image will not display on the live site until the issue above is resolved.
Thanks to their efforts, the Quonset space which they title Clean Livin now sports patched bullet holes; a dense peppering of small, oval windows with colored-glass panes (recycled from truck caps); and solar panels replacing the structures long-unused coal boxes as an electric power source. The work is ideal for the small group known as SIMPARCH (for simple architecture) comprised of Lynch, Badgett, an organic farmer, a boat builder and a handful of others who see themselves not only as artists but as problem solvers.
Lynch added, As a sculptor, teacher and problem solver, I use humor and play to raise issues of materials, traditions of art, and social commentary. I like to make people laugh. In SIMPARCH, we aim to create social interaction through experimentation with materials and design as opposed to a more traditional art object. The project we construct at the Whitney will have an interactive, playful element in addition to its environmental focus.
Further action is required to make this image accessible
One of the below criteria must be satisfied:
- Add image alt tag OR
- Mark image as decorative
The image will not display on the live site until the issue above is resolved.
The structure they build in the Whitney courtyard, which will parallel whats already been accomplished in the Southwest, will eventually be dismantled and incorporated into their ongoing work in Utah. The New York piece will be site specific with the designed space [there], but we will want to reuse these elements as a means of recycling one project into the next, explained Lynch.
Further action is required to make this image accessible
One of the below criteria must be satisfied:
- Add image alt tag OR
- Mark image as decorative
The image will not display on the live site until the issue above is resolved.
The pairs work in Utah builds on prior projects theyve instituted throughout this country and in Europe that invite public interaction with structural art. For instance, one past project, titled Free Basin, consists of a semi-portable, kidney bean-shaped skate-boarding arena that has traveled museums throughout the country including Chicago and New York and will next exhibit in San Francisco in summer 2004. That work was about the expressive creative activity of a marginalized group and their interactivity with architecture. Skate-boarders were invited to come into the museums to use the piece, stated Lynch.
Further action is required to make this image accessible
One of the below criteria must be satisfied:
- Add image alt tag OR
- Mark image as decorative
The image will not display on the live site until the issue above is resolved.
Another former work, referencing architecture, was a representation of a trailer home constructed out of recycled, opaque plastic sheeting. Badgett and Lynch constructed the Southwest project as a reference to the regions history of temporary, manufactured housing.
The final form and shape of the Whitney site-specific piece, to be built in a courtyard space measuring about 25 by 80 feet, is yet to be determined, but it will reference shelter, energy, and a simpler life as an art form.
Related Stories
UC names next UC Foundation president and VP of advancement
March 21, 2024
UC President Neville G. Pinto and UC Foundation Chairman Leigh Fox announce Richard Bundy as next leader of the University of Cincinnati Foundation.
Two University of Cincinnati students make the 2024 GDUSA...
March 11, 2024
Spencer Roberts and Joey Woods make the GDUSA 2024 Students to Watch list.
Cincinnati ranks No. 1 in the nation for street art
March 8, 2024
Cincinnati boasts a plethora of street art, including murals, which led to its designation by USA Today as the No. 1 city with the best street art for 2024. UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning has been instrumental in designing, implementing and placing public art projects throughout the city.