ScholarWorks

Title

Mountain Man Eater (Angle 1)

Creator

Lee Douglas Moats, Boise State UniversityFollow

Creation Date

2015

Preview

Medium

Mylar® on Styrofoam™ with video projection

Description

Dimensions: 39 x 23 x 20 inches

Artist Statement

I find myself clashing with gravity and entropy. The root problem that faces all sculptors. My response as an artist over time has been shifting from resistance towards acceptance. I acknowledge and incorporate entropy as the natural opposing force that silently occupies a place in all sculptures. I want the work to explore the illusion that artwork exists outside of time.

I attempted to counter calamity by selecting materials that are both fragile and yet extremely resilient. I craft forms from Styrofoam and blanket them in silver Mylar that fuse to its surface via a heat seal. I project videos onto the surface as it has similar properties in that light resists gravity. The expected images distort and break down simply by pointing them at objects not intended for that purpose. I use spray paint or leave the surface bare to either to display moving images or scatter it. Video projection works for and against the sculpture as it can only exist where the matte paint lies. The intent to subvert expectations with projection invites the viewer to interact with the light and interject themselves into the work.

My works reflect a desire to interact with community and how it tends repulses this feeling. The work Fire Stare examines the relationship between what we think our community thinks about us as individuals and how this can compound into a negative feedback loop. The viewer's presence invites entropy in their physical interactions with light from the projector as well as their interpretation and their own preconceived expectations. In the same way that the individual exists between the shared reality and their social group, how an individual interprets this shared experience distorts their perspective this can lead to unnecessary suffering.

Working through this suffering was how I approach my next work. I approach this like morality tale. Mountain Man Eater considers the sunk-cost fallacy that can lead us to our doom. A person can become deeply entrenched in conquering mountains. As they want ascend to the heavens to join the elite whom reached the peak. The unexperienced know the truth too late to save themselves from the grave they dug in sky. When they tried to consume the mountain it is the mountain that consumes them. A child thinks they can carve through mountains. An adult knows that the mountain carves through them.

Rights

© Lee Douglas Moats, 2015. Photo Credit: Steven Lewis.