deep brand recognition

"perhaps the great work of art has less importance in itself than the ordeal it demands on a man and the opportunity it provides him of overcoming his phantoms and approaching a little closer to his naked reality." Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

For our viewing pleasure this week is a small series of fun and whimsical paintings by Josh Sands, simply entitled "buttons." These are five of six small works that appeared last month in the "four artists show..." In this grouping they evoke the possibilities of small clothing accessories taking flight, or perhaps gravitating through space. Individually each small piece appears to be imprisoning the buttons or playfully weaving in and out of them. Then again could they be in seperate stages of application, to a garment? Whether being sewn or escaping reality; clearly no one will know for sure. What is known about the piece is through carefully deciphering contextual clues from the artist himself.

Perhaps what we are seeing is simply the glorifying of a simple item that holds such great and often times underappreciated importance to our species. This unique and humble item can often times fade into the background of our lives like suspenders (not glorified enough either), zippers, or belt-loops. Yet their necessity is greater than ever with the ongoing butt-crack epidemic of the 2000's. Putting this small object up onto the great pedastal of art, seems a valiant and poignant attempt to dramatize the mundane in all of us. In fact the little things are what it IS all about.



Then it was brought to my attention that latent in the buttton's series is an attempt to use color as its own entity to associate another kind of button into the spot light in our minds. It is not known if it was the artists intention to make the pieces hint at Super Nintendo controllers, with their odd colored buttons, or not. The comparison seems to be there upon viewing. Even the shape of the individual canvasses look somewhat like game controllers. It is this type of brand recognition that may be permanently creeping into young peoples perceptions of art in general, however subconcious. Then again it could be a clever trick by the artist to facilitate the possibilities of multiple interpretations. Sneaky!


For fun here are some photos of the artist hard at work in 2006 at his Hyde House studio in Milwaukee, Wi.


A colorful eyeful!

heart of glass

This lovely month us folks at Eyeful Gallery, had to stop and meditate as a group pondering the way for the future. The country itself could use a little sip off of the same spoonful of medicine as we have now taken, sugar and all. Smelling the roses once in a while etc. Still just as our young country is now starting to realize, things do have a habit of altering themselves at a breakneck pace, and not always for the better. I guess its important to remember that much is out of our control! That being said we decided to focus on the things that are within our control, and one of those things as always is, how we choose to spend our time. Just then Phil Anthropy knocked on the door, and we at the Eyeful Gallery were compelled to answer. The philanthropic task turned out to be just a matter of combining forces like the super friends, to blow glass. With Jeff Ballard at the helm of one of two gaffer's benches aptly leading the team of Wes Chumley, Joe Tsoulfas, and Josh Sands. Applying his trademark smoke screen to the ambience. Two glory holes spit fire like circus freaks, as the temperature reached epic storybook proportions.



Thank you as well is due to the other teammates in zone two. At the gaffer's bench was Mike Hengler, with Aaron, and Emmerich, big pimpin' it with assistance.



Our mission was to fabricate all of the blown glass art center pieces for the tables during the Eugene Glass School's annual auction event. With the Eugene Glass School being such a great non-profit organization, and facility it was naturally an easy choice to want to donate our time and skills to create some nice glass to add to the auction for bidding. We are all very excited for the upcoming event, which is changing venues this year.

Still it is truly mutually benificial, to donate your time, since ultimately you will learn something new everytime. This is especially true with soft glass blowing in the hot shop, since it takes a crew, a large and well equipped facility, time and energy, etc...Besides each time you do something it only helps you to get better at it, even if it's just a little bit, right? Plus all the bonding, and teamwork.



And finally our "Four Artists: Two Hours" show, starring; Freeman Corbin, Josh Sands, Flynn Helper, and Jeff Ballard comes down in the gallery. The fine folks who purchased pieces can now promptly add them to their collection!