Patrick
Miceli ~ Statement on Installations
My current body
of work centers on collections of found objects -- for example, toy guns,
toys given away as fast food premiums, or lost gloves.
The collection of fast food toy premiums, numbering in the thousands, has been used in two installations. In each of the installations, I have presented the toys in a formal arrangement, without stressing a particular point of view. When people view the toys, a variety of feelings are sparked, which connect to the viewers' experiences. Our cultural experience drives the initial recognition of toys as childhood emblems. The work would be uninteresting if it relied solely on this evident connection for meaning. Coupling the ideas that the toys immediately engender (as tools of acculturation) with abundance and the toys' source (McDonald's, Burger King, etc.) places the work into a broader, sharper dialogue that encompasses ideas such as our impulse to collect, the marketing of consumerism, material excess, and the use of human and natural resources. The ability of the installations, to draw people in, testifies to the power of the mass marketing and pop culture.
In another project, objects have been culled from the detris of the street. The objects have been chosen for their peculiarity, attractiveness, or perceived history. To highlight the beauty or substance of the object, it is displayed in a box, made specifically for that object. The boxes are handbuilt from terra-cotta clay. By placing the object in the box, it is taken out of one context, the street, and placed in another, allowing for a variety of meanings to surface. The object becomes a cultural artifact, a sacred article, a fragment of history, a fetish item. The boxes and their objects have a greater potential to be used as elements in groupings (or in an installation) to emphasize their ideas and to develop additional layers of interest.
Each project explores narrative and formal ideas. The ultimate effectiveness of my work will lie in creating pieces that are both visually inviting and intellectually engaging
