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Po Shun Leong and Bob Stocksdale Time Standing Still 2002 Various wood and metal 79 x 42 x 13 in. (floor) $15,000 A former architect, artist Po Shun Leong now builds complex sculptural constructions that are metaphors of containment and renewal. In 2002 Leong built a series of ten life-sized cabinets inspired by the human figure either in motion or at poise. One of them, Time Standing Still, pays tribute to the massive 16th century statue of Farnese Hercules that was discovered in the Baths of Caracalla. The statue depicts Hercules at rest leaning on his club, and was highly admired by artists of the Baroque period for its powerful musculature and realistic portrayal. Time Standing Still is similar in composition. It consists of a figure leaning against a cupboard, the doors of which display unfinished and broken turnings donated by renowned turner Bob Stocksdale. Stocksdale also contributed the figure's clock-face head, a piece which he discarded fifty years ago. There are a number of small drawers in the figure that contain pieces of wood from an actual Johnny Appleseed tree, a tree from the 15th century, a tree that stood by Lincoln's tomb, and a tree from Walden Pond, which was immortalized by author and environmentalist Henry David Thoreau. All of these wood pieces were donated by the American Forests Famous and Historic Woods and the Thoreau Institute. View the Proposal Leong puts his art-making philosophy succinctly: "It is from this method of re-constructing disparate fragments into new wholes that I can find the poetry of sculptural meaning. What the eye arranges is what is beautiful." According to author Lois Fichner-Rathus, "There is a restlessness to the patterns which, coupled with a host of hidden drawers punctuating the form-some open, some closed-create a sense of constant motion." Miguel Gomez-Ibañez and Joseph Reed Vargueño 2002 Walnut, ebonized walnut, mother of pearl, purpleheart, ebony, and leather 55 x 31 x 24 in. $12,500 Furniture maker Miguel Gomez-Ibañez and painter Joseph Reed make history come to life with their cabinet Vargueño , which pays homage to a furniture form popular in Spain during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Primarily used as traveling chests, vargueños have hinged drop fronts that enclose various small drawers used for storing valuables. It is often placed on a stand with expressively turned ornaments. Vargueños traditionally have a rather functional exterior with elaborate metalwork-hinges, latches, handles, and corner reinforcements that contrasts with a highly decorated interior, whose surfaces are embellished with carvings, inlays, paintings, gilding, ivory or mother of pearl. View the Proposal This contemporary vargueño has a nondescript hinged drop front and embellished interior. Upon opening the front, the user is presented with twenty-six drawers divided vertically in two halves, each of which has a center panel as its focus. The twenty-six drawers correspond to the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, and each drawer has an oil painting of a letter on its face. The two central panels depict A and Z. In addition to an individual letter, the face of each drawer has a flower painted on it whose name begins with the depicted letter. As a result, the twenty-six drawers form a botanical alphabet. Curiously enough, all of the drawers are empty. They were intentionally left so by the artists with the hope that the user would fill them with objects from his or her imagination. The alphabet motif is employed to reinforce the processes of identification, classification and organization, namely processes that are inherent in the art of establishing and maintaining a collection. Gideon Hughes and Adolf Volkman Givin’ Adolf His Props 2002 Scrap wood, glass, wooden pulleys, and cranks 49 x 27 x 17 1/2 in. $15,000 Givin Adolf His Props is a celebration of the longtime friendship and mutual respect shared between its creators Gideon Hughs (Furniture Artist) and Adolf Volkman (Pattern Maker). Hughs has long admired Volkman's work which, because of its nature, is rarely seen or appreciated. Volkman constructs patterns out of wood for objects or mechanisms that are eventually output in steel, aluminum, or bronze. Their collaboration results in a cabinet that highlights the inventiveness and craftsmanship of both artists. The cabinet is shaped like a pod, meant to represent potential. It is asymmetrical, like wood's organic nature. All of the doors and windows open via a crank-and-pulley system devised by Volkman. The doors and windows are made of glass, beckoning the viewer to look inside and see the mechanisms in motion-the true curiosities of the piece. View the Proposal Michael Brolly, John Biggs, Zac Robbins, Chris Coggiano, Tony Delong, and Lynne Brolly Cirque de Cabinet 2003 Poplar, mahogany, cherry, ply wood, nails, electric motors, electric eye, computer chip, Lazy Susan, beads, buttons, wire, springs, glass, and acrylic paint 32 x 20 x 20 In. $30,000 Conceived by turner Michael Brolly and realized with the help of five other artists, Cirque de Cabinet is a highly unusual work that simultaneously combines sophisticated production techniques with materials that the typical artist would probably overlook. Cirque de Cabinet consists of a Budda-like figure sitting on a bed of nails. Behind his/her folded legs is a revolving drawer that houses a collection of creature-like figures. In its belly, which is made of glass and protrudes from its shirt, is a computerized dancing figure dressed in beads who moves in tandem with the viewer. A motion sensor imbedded in its nose enables the creature's head to follow the movement of the viewer while its eyes blink, wink, look right and left or up and down. Intentionally created out of a hodgepodge of material, Cirque de Cabinet could be said to bear a close resemblance to the creature Frankenstein, who, like this cabinet, was created out of unusual materials that bizarrely functioned together as a whole. View the Proposal Next Page Jump to Page: 1 2 3 4