Artineering: Artist’s Note by Lance Dehn�
Yes, I did have an "Erector Set" when I was a kid. I also participated in the games "Mousetrap," "Operation," "Chutes and Ladders," even built a few "Mr. Potato Head" and many, many model airplanes. I still like to watch gadgets; where the steel ball rolls down a chute, drops onto a springboard that launches a projectile which hits a lever that releases a wheel and spirals down a rack, hitting a trapdoor that activates a life, pops open a flap, and releases a colorful gumball. The steel ball then makes its way back to the top, replenishing the potential energy needed to harvest the next delight. It is this kind of imagery I would like to relate to everyday creativity: the action, the colors, the journey, the and rewards. I like to build things as much as I like to paint and draw things. In fact I like to build things that I paint and draw– i.e. design / build.
In a series of works now underway, these gadgets represent day to day activities. When complete, the series can be looked at as a kind of "what makes the world go ‘round’" story. The ball keeps rolling on. Beyond this series, some features will remain prevalent in works to come. Calmly dynamic features such as slots, grooves, stops, weights, pulleys, wheels and pegs, are meant to convey motion, either past, present, or future. Not with the photographic "blur" effect or the repeated "tracers" of Duchamp, but instead, just the idea that they exist, free to slide, fall, rotate or otherwise "move" until stopped.
