Donation #2
Conceived sometime in October 1987

This individual, made possible through the generosity of Ben Kohl and Linda Farthing, is proudly hosted by Tyler School of Art at Temple University.

Ms. Farthing and Dr. Kohl’s invaluable contribution is internationally renowned through the specimen’s capacity for abstract reasoning, language, introspection and problem solving. The impact of their philanthropy is immeasurable and Temple University is most grateful for their support.

Domestic Carnival is an ongoing project that alters entire household rooms and re-presents them as flashing amusement park rides. Ultimately this project will transform an entire family home into a traveling carnival: one room at a time. To begin, I have fabricated a sculpture that merges the psychology of a county fair with the intimate nature of the dining room. Pulsing lights, steel joists, and a generator were combined with a dining room table, chairs, hardwood flooring, and objects from the room. The apparatus is engineered like a carnival ride; the sculpture is mounted on a custom trailer that collapses for transportation to its next destination.

“Damaged People” is a series of 6 installations (out of which I’ve selected the top 3) created between January-March of 2011, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, respectively Wroclaw, Poland.
The artworks presented include close friends and well-known models.
I chose models in contrast to relatively unknown people because anybody can be famous, anybody can be damaged, no matter how good their life is.
The five characters represented have a strong, even contagious sexuality, as they are a result of our modern society, which inevitably revolves around sex.
Through these works I am questioning who and what we perceive as damaged, because apparently it may happen to anyone, regardless of background or current situation, and whether or not they’re actually damaged, or we just choose to question this based on what we think happens inside them.
People transform their bodies in sync with what they’re going through inside. When they exceed socially-accepted limits, they become damaged in the eyes of others, but also interesting to a few who are open-minded.
The artworks question making yourself accepted in a society that sees you as (mentally) damaged: being borderline anorexic, having most of your body covered with tattoos, visually exposing what you believe in, trying to be something you’re not, or maybe trying to show people what you really are and, because of this excessive sincerity, people reject you.
Regarding the installation itself, the need for branches is supported by wanting to project the inner self of my models outside of the canvas in an expansive and interactive way. I am trying to express the rebirth of a generation, of something new, and I want the public to take part in it by feeling a strong connection to the artworks presented, to the fact that they break the barrier between what’s depicted in two dimensions and what people see as their three-dimensional continuity.
The technique used, a loosely realistic charcoal drawing on canvas, is in opposition to the raw branches, and the characters’ interaction with them suggest borderline reality, questioning what we perceive as real (the drawings or their 3d projection and continuity).

To what extent can something be transformed through context and repetition? What toll does this endeavor take from the artist? How far will process take us and what sacrifices will be made?
Will the symbol’s meaning be lost in a multitude of itself? Do perceptions of the symbol change when hung from the ceiling in an eerie echo of children’s paper snowflakes? In what ways do the juxtaposition of nature and man-made create new connotations and meanings?

Through these works I have been examining process, repetition, the balance between healthy and obsessive artistic practice, and transformation through context and juxtaposition.

Turn Me On is an interactive installation based on the cycles of a relationship. There are 3 stages: Attraction, Pulsating, and Repulsion. Each room is modeled after a particular stage. As the viewer moves throughout each room, the light and sound respond to the viewer in the manner of the room.

When the viewer enters the first room, the light is dark and quiet. As the viewer moves closer, the light slowly gets brighter and hums, symbolic to a first attraction and meeting. As the viewer withdrawals from the first room, the light gets dimmer and quieter, until it goes off completely, in the same manner it began.

When the viewer enters the second room and draws near, the light and sound turn on and palpitate (pulse width modulation). This is symbolic to a steady romantic relationship, when all is well, healthy and wonderful. As the viewer exits, the light and sound slowly go off.

When the viewer enters the third (and final) room, the light and sound immediately turn on to full blast – intense brightness and screeching . This is similar to the ending stages of a relationship, when the proximity of the other brings intense negative emotion and repulsion. Then, the light and sound end abruptly, plunging the viewer into darkness and silence.

The installation spaces articulate the psychological stages of a relationship.

Then Ether is a responsive multi-channel sound and light environment about memory, the loss of it, and the inconsistent ability to access it. Then Ether collects sound “memories” from inside its space, and it’s immediate exterior space, by sensing activity. It plays these sound clips within the larger installation space. Sound files play shortly after they are recorded, so that viewers are able to hear themselves within the installation. The file then slips into a database, playing back randomly over time. At times, the installation space is relatively calm and quiet. At other times, the space swells with sound, triggering many “memories” (sound files) at one time, creating a mild cacophony that will exist within it’s walls. This is symbolic to the haphazard and random nature of memory, as well as the questionability of being able to access it.

The sound is constantly refreshing, to include the most recent memories, combined with sporadic instances and sporadic swarms, of distant memories. These distant memories are broken- playing at random points within the file, rarely playing from the beginning to the end, which fractures their instance and their identity. Re-introducing the most recent past with the late past, elongates and collapsing each viewer’s sense of time while orienting them comparatively in the lifespan of the installation. The viewer is not merely the center of the piece as it runs, but slowly becomes part of the fabric of its existence in the space; long after their body is absent. They have an ongoing effect in the space, but not an on-going control. The durational nature of this installation enlarges the installation space by expanding and abounding upon the notion of time and presence of the viewer, going beyond their physical bodies. This installation freezes moments, and allows viewers to continually enter the space, long after their bodies are gone.

Nick Rodrigues
Email Garden, 2010-11
steel, electric motor, arduino, walnut, vinyl string

The Email Garden grows synthetic grass at the same rate as my personal email account. Each email i received to my inbox causes the grass-like material to be pushed up approximately 1” showing both lushness of communication and the social contract associated with the constant connectivity. Over time the desk transforms from a useful work surface into an overflowing vessel of synthetic communication and endless obligations. This piece is my first work completed during a two year residency at Calarts in the new ART+TECH program.

*Please see the rest of my work at
www.nickrodrigues.com

Email growth after one week on display in the admissions lobby at California Institute of the Arts

In observing the shifting patterns of current social behavior,and consumption, I have noticed how emerging products embrace and often highlight a person’s insecurities. To wear an Armani suit or to sit in a new truck with 4-wheel drive– drives an attitude change and a confidence infusion. Why is this true? Has there been an unexpected union between person and product? There is a proliferation of products based on the themes of personal protection, connected isolation, regulated routine, and identity enhancement that begs the artist to open a window, to reveal this union with cautionary humor. My work has developed over time based on these principals.

The following sculptures highlight each of these concepts. As an artist, I am extremely excited when designing, engineering, and building structures that satirically dance with the accepted constraints of the current human-to-object discourse. As a human being, I am always fascinated with the typically quick, often awakened, and very amusing moments that occur when I launch my creation into an unsuspecting audience. Individuals interact and form a different union, becoming connected with the piece. Thus, I use video to capture and share what I consider to be the power that silently exists within many of the inventions that we unwittingly accept. The experience of the audience is gratifying as individuals discover the work again and again within their daily activities-allowing me to share my view of the risk of an unexamined world.

About the art:
Menstruation #I : Feminist Expression, Anti-war art
Category: Mixed Media
Date Created: February 10, 2011
Dimensions: 54 x 36 x 2

About me:
Rozita Fogelman
Multi-Disciplinary Artist
Born 1964, Tbilisi, Georgia,
lives and works in SF, CA.

Contemporary California abstract colorist, minimal-expressionist, avant-garde, anti-war, feminist, conceptual artist. I work with new and traditional media: painting, drawing, photography, graphics, performance, video-art and installation dealing with environmental and feminist issues.

The selections are based on a novel I self published called “Alien Journal.”  The work is part of a Performance and Installation concept.  The work is descriptive of a future dystopia ruled by machines that are hooked into human brains.  My work is a metaphorical self portrait.