Tuesday 31 May 2011

Artist Statement: Mike HJ Chang

Black Pebble (2011)

Bench (2011)
 
Black Pebble (2011) and Bench (2011), are two separate pieces, but born out of the same vein in which the artist deals with issues of the dream in the context of human ergonomics. In the photography piece a black pebble is inserted under a mattress, depicting an uncomfortable sleeping situation. Black stones or gems have long been associated with magic or the dark arts, though in the work the sense of ritual is ambiguous, only the very mundane is presented.  The state of sleeping has the potential of being disrupted by the physical intrusion of a pebble, not unlike having a tiny rock in one’s shoe.

In the sculptural work, Bench, a slight physical change has occurred to a typical piece of furniture. The (un)combination of the slanted form and the rigid square-ness of the ceramic titles results in a disharmonious state. Similar to Black Pebble, the slightly out-of-ordinariness makes it hard to rule out that one is already in a dream.

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