Artsplace Art Contest 2009

Projects

Artsplace Art Contest 2009

Quick Description

The theme for the Artsplace Art Contest 2009 was "Metal" (as in the material, not the music genre), and a collection of items were given to each competitor to be used as inspiration (with actual use in the piece being optional). The items included a nail, a large screw, a small screw, a spring, a piece of wire, a piece of chain, a safety pin, something resembling a thimble, a very random shaped piece of metal, and a piece of green mat board all in a corrugated plastic case. The only other requirements were size and date. In the end, I "unofficially" came in second, and my piece got bid on a number of times at the charity auction before finally going to an art-loving home.

A little more about the piece:
In an effort to "clone" himself, artist Bert Simons put a highly detailed 3D model of himself on the internet free for anyone to download, print, & create. It is that 3D model which was used as the initial structure and added inspiration for the project. (Find details and/or download it HERE.) This piece is meant as a wall hanging. The plastic in the top is the packaging that the materials came in. The switch on the lower left side activates the long-life LEDs. For ease of use, the changeable battery compartment pulls out of the rightmost bottom tube (3 AA’s). For an added surprise, see what happens when you get your wires crossed! (Not that I want to ruin the surprise here, but since I can't exactly show the internets... When you crossed the wires at the bottom of the piece, it activates a small vibrator buried deep inside the head which I pulled out of a broken electric razor that I randomly got sent as a promotion in the mail for some odd reason. The idea is to make it seem like you are getting electrocuted without ya know... ACTUALLY electrocuting you.)