(Above: Healthcare in America broken in the Mouse House parking lot. Click on any image in this blog post to enlarge.)
My main/fiber studio is at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios about a mile from Mouse House ... where I live, work, and also have a "second" studio for 3D assemblages. Twice a year the resident artists at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios exhibit together ... once in the spring for an event called "Artista Vista" and once in the fall (the Thursday before Thanksgiving) called "Vista Lights". I made a piece called Healthcare in America in my "home studio". I blogged about it HERE. On Wednesday morning I loaded up the six "Wet Sand" series pieces and Healthcare in America into our car and was about to transport the work to Gallery 80808/Vista Studios. Then disaster! Steve opened the back hatch ... which sent the piece to the pavement.
(Above: Creating a Plexiglas cube.)
Most people think I would have screamed and cried and that Steve would have been mortified, apologetic, and compassionate. We aren't normal people though! By the time I got to the parking lot, Steve was laughing. Sure I was a little shocked and I wasn't laughing, but I also wasn't angry or tearful. Instead and almost immediately, Steve ran for the camera, started shooting and taking video. We started brainstorming about a transformation. Healthcare in America is Broke became the appropriate, conceptual result.
The parking lot was swept into boxes. Four 18" x 18" and two 18 1/2" x 18 1/2" pieces of quarter inch Plexiglas were ordered. I went to work building a cube, ordering photos to be displayed alongside the recreation, and creating a video. (The video can be seen on U Tube or on My Video Blog.)
(Above: Finishing Healthcare in America is Broke.)
The piece is now at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios. Laura Spong, one of the other resident artists, is busy arranging the work for the upcoming Vista Lights show. I'll have photos of the piece at the exhibition soon. In the meantime, please enjoy the video. The credits include: Art by Susan Lenz and Damage, photos and video by Steve Dingman. In typical gallery label fashion (title, artist, medium, price), the tag reads: Healthcare in America is Broke, Susan Lenz, Mixed Media, Overpriced !!!
As this is Friday, I'm linking to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" blog that documents "works in progress". This piece was included several weeks ago ... but this is definitely another phase for this piece!
Before I even read further I knew that this was going to turn into another alternate piece of art.
ReplyDeleteBecause.......that's what you do! Make art from almost nothing. I so love the way you think. (And I love that Steve gets co-billing on this piece.)
Talk about lemonade out of lemons:)
ReplyDeleteOh goodness! Well done for looking on the bright side :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen life hands you lemons...! Wonderful!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I like the redo much better.......really says it all!
ReplyDeleteToo bad! However, not surprising that you would turn it into another magnificent piece!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing!!
courage c'est pour mieux rebondir..difficile expériebce de l'impermanence des choses...j'ai vécu cela il y a quelques années, c'est toute l'exposition textiles qui a brulée : 70 oeuvres ;((((
ReplyDeleteencore courage
Cassiopeya
Broken healthcare - Love it! Though I can not imagine how you must have felt seeing all the bits on the pavement and Steve laughing!!!! Good end result, You really rocked this one Susan!!
ReplyDeleteYAY for you. Gasp - laugh - then snatch disaster from the ledge. Ha. Actually, as much as I loved the first incarnation, I like this one even more. It's quite the visual for the state of healthcare in America - we can see that it's broken, but we can't get to it to fix it.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I could have handled it so well Susan, but the end result is stunning. Poor Steve, will he ever live this down? Loved the video by the way !
ReplyDeleteHooroo from Christine across the big pond in Australia
I very admire your restraint, language wise, when you first laid eyes on this! Had I been you, Steve might have suffered some serious collateral damage. I admire how you coped with this and the message in your new art piece is even stronger than in the original! The video itself is a work of art. Hope you show it with the pieces!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful example you are! I hope I can re-imagine an idea when one fails or breaks! I had read earlier about your health care project, so I was disappointed when I first started to read your blog, but I love the new project as well. Forward! I am at Off the Wall also.
ReplyDeleteohhh this just takes it that much further!! This is the type of art that just makes me stop and look and look!
ReplyDeleteLove how you turned lemons into lemonade- and given the subject matter or the piece, how incredibly apropos!
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing and you two have a great attitude . How was your residency at TSKW? I see you're going back. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteIsn't the creative process amazing? The piece was great to start with (I love seeing your process in creation) but the final piece says SO MUCH MORE about the system!
ReplyDeleteSusan, I think, no I know, that I would have cried. But then, it would have been because I don't have a creative mind that would allow me to make something out of nothing.
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for being an ARTIST!
I’m not sure of when or how I discovered your blog. I think it was in mid 2010. Since then I have a been regular reader.
I follow your stories of ART, work, family, and life. It is encouraging as I look at ways of weave together the different parts of my life with meaning and purpose.
I am inspired by your ART, your process, your passion, your dedication, your motivation, and your inspiration. Your ART challenges me to look at ART and life in a different way. While I am drawn to ART that is aesthetically pleasing, ART that make me smile, ART that works with a certain particular décor or wardrobe; I long for ART, such as yours, that makes me challenges me and makes me think about ideas or issues or concepts in different ways.
When I first saw the video on "Healthcare in America is Broken" and then read the comments, I thought that "we", (the citizens of the United States of America) could and should learn from this. It is our health care system....what can we do to improve our health and fix our health care system? While I do not have answers at this time, a seed has been planted.
I could ramble on and on, but instead I will go to the sewing machine and meditate and create.
Thank you again,
Peace and Stitch,
Candace
PS… I saw one of your Find a Mate pieces in Chapel Hill North Carolina.