Current Events
PERSONAL SCIENCE—found object reconstructions
by Tim Englert
Angelface by Tim Englert
Opening Reception Friday August 12th, 2011. 6pm to 10pm.
Runs til Sunday, Sep. 4th, 2011.
Pacific Pinball Museum
1510 Webster St., Alameda, CA 94501
Museum Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 2pm to 9pm
Friday and Saturday to 12 midnight. Closed Mondays.
Artist’s Statement
Tim Englert combines replicas of found objects to create colorful masks, each of which possess a personality according to its various bits and pieces.Natural objects, industrial debris and captured textures form three dimensional relief sculptures which are at once other-worldly but still vaguely human.
“Masks have been made and used by people since pre-history and seem to be a basic part of our nature. These current mask/sculptures are a progression of similar pieces done in the 1980’s and 90’s which used the found objects themselves . By making molds from the original objects and then casting copies, a single treasure of industrial detritus may be reborn many times in new and unexpected ways,” says Englert.
As humans, we depend on pattern recognition to make sense of our world. As modern, media saturated humans we are surrounded from birth by unlikely patterns and images which become part of our reality. Animals of every sort walk on two legs, wear clothes and talk. Even inanimate objects such as food items or cleaning supplies sprout arms, legs and faces while urging us to buy them.
In these sculptures, replicas of natural objects and decayed artifacts are arranged in patterns which our senses recognize as face-like, and as such transmit the emotional content we have learned to associate with the language of facial features.
The pieces are made of gypsum cement, cast in rubber molds which have been taken from various objects found along beaches, old dumps or alongside the road. The castings are painted with oil based enamel paints and then assembled, acquiring their attributed personalities according to the look and placement of the various components. They go through several stages and identities before finally being epoxied into the static personality they will exhibit for the rest of their inanimate lifetimes.
Masks have been made and used by people since pre-history and seem to be a basic part of our nature. These current mask/sculptures are a progression of similar pieces done in the 1980’s and 90’s which used the found objects themselves. By making molds from the original objects and then casting copies, a single treasure of industrial detritus may be reborn many times in new and unexpected ways.
Bio:
Tim Englert has a Master’s Degree in Art (Ceramics) from Humboldt State University and exhibited widely during the 1970’s and 80’s. Currently he is a licensed contractor and partner in Blue Lotus Project, a residential design/build company in Alameda CA. He has contributed on several sculptures at the Burning Man Festival and recently rebuilt a vintage aluminum travel trailer into a modern office which may be seen at http://www.bluelotusproject.net.
Curator’s Corner:
Tim has been chugging away and has produced a whole new show of his popular Mask series. Now he's honed the faux treatment even further, making it seem beyond fake. Almost, hyper-fake. And the faces seem like they were real people. With real personalities, problems and afflictions. I love the idea of making fake junk. Combine the 2 and this is high art! Making fake people out of fake garbage.
Wow. Another winner Tim!
-MS
Mask1 by Tim Englert
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"In America, In the Kingdom of the Blind
(For the Love of Money)"
New Digital Prints - on Canvas by John Sheridan
“USA vs. the World" © 2011 by John Sheridan
Opening Reception
Friday July 8th, 2011 from 6:30 pm to 10:30pm at
Free Flipper Finger Food, No Host Bar,
$10 special admission play all you want
Pacific Pinball Museum’s
Lucky Ju Ju Pinball Art Gallery
1510 Webster St. Alameda, CA
Runs from July 8th to August 8th, 2011.
"For the Love of Money "
by John Sheridan
“The Misfits” © 2010 by John Sheridan
John Sheridan prints from images he has found in his (endless) search for meaningful content in American culture. There is much to learn from the past 50 plus years of portable imagery – made up of new and antique decals, stickers - and he has printed it on canvas. Sheridan uses an array of colorful and always surprising images and words which are both art and also come from and target American working class. The images contain compelling and controversial elements which cannot be separated from the great energy that has always marked the poor and blue collar working culture of the country. Similar to where jazz, rock, Hip-Hop, carnival, cartoons, dream machines, comix and games like pinball come from, these works on canvas explode with superheroes, pinups, cars, numbers, logos and images from the deep (or not so deep) popular unconscious as well as from the most persuasive propaganda machine ever - advertising.
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Doug Watson's Art is now on display in the Pacific Pinball Museum's Lucky Ju Ju Trans-view Gallery
Doug Watson is an artist who lived in interesting times. During his years at Advertising Posters, the main suppliers of pinball art until their demise, he brought some of the most original fantasy art to grace a backglass. Following his arrival at Bally in 1982 and later at Williams in 1985 he continued this tradition in oil paintings. Presented for the first time anywhere, are the original paintings for machines made from 1983 thru 1996.
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