|
Compound Gallery contacted me in the middle of the year. They said they had an opening in their calendar for December and that they would love to feature my work in a solo show. Because I had previous commitments for shows in October and November, I had to decline. I would simply not have enough time to complete enough new pieces to fill a gallery. This pained me because I am a huge fan of the gallery and admire the variety of shows that they curate. So I proposed to Compound the idea of “NeighborWood”—an idea I had been thinking about for a while and that I had been slowing planning between work and lunch hours. |
 |
NeighborWood – Mike Burnett
Compound Gallery contacted me in the middle of the year. They said they had an opening in their calendar for December and that they would love to feature my work in a solo show. Because I had previous commitments for shows in October and November, I had to decline. I would simply not have enough time to complete enough new pieces to fill a gallery. This pained me because I am a huge fan of the gallery and admire the variety of shows that they curate.
So I proposed to Compound the idea of “NeighborWood”—an idea I had been thinking about for a while and that I had been slowing planning between work and lunch hours. The idea was to create a limited number of hand-made wood figures to be customized by other artists. The difference between this show and other customized toy shows is that I would not be sending out 50 vinyl, semi-mass-produced toys (from a run of 1000 or more). These toys would be a uniquely designed, hand-crafted set of 50 wooden figures made exclusively for this show.
From previous wood figure making experience, I knew I would be in for quite an undertaking. Most of my wood characters take about eight to twelve hours, just to construct the blank wooden figure. Making multiples of one figure definitely helps decrease time—but it still took me an average of eight hours a piece to create the wooden figures (over a month and a half to build all 50). Not many shows feature canvases (wooden) that take almost as long to make as the art that is created on it.
The figure was designed to give the artist a large surface area to interpret, express and create their own character without having restricting features. The head, body, arms and feet are simple, undefined shapes that leave endless possibilities for customization. The wood (unlike vinyl) is an easy and enjoyable surface to paint on. It is a natural material that grips any paint applied to it. This is another thing I wanted to share with fellow artists. I have painted numerous vinyl toys and have hated the experience. I had to use special paints and techniques that I was not used to.
The selection of artists came about from my bookmarked tab of favorite and interesting artists in Internet Explorer. During breaks and lunch hours, I casually browse artists’ web sites and links, and have been taking note of artists that I enjoy and that amuse me. That is one thing that I particularly admire in an artist —the ability to make one smile, whether it is in a funny, whimsical way or in a bizarre, creepy, awkward way (my favorite). So when the idea of this show came about, I already had a perfect list of artists that would, hopefully, join me in this project. The most thrilling and satisfying aspect of the project has been receiving an e-mail from an invited artist stating that he/she is a fan of my work and would love to be in the show. Fifty of the 65 invited artists said yes to being in the show—and most who said no had to because of prior commitments.
The title of “NeighborWood” was developed because of the international field of artists on my list. This is just what happens when you browse through the external links on a European artist’s home page that I enjoy. He knows artists in France, they know artists in the UK and Germany, and so on. This is how my list of admired artists came to have citizens from Canada, Argentina, France, UK, Germany, Norway, Israel, Australia and Singapore. All these artists, working together to create unique, one-of-a-kind wooden characters, all gathered together into one “NeighborWood.”
