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"I was interested in using a dramatic, but possibly overlooked, element of the storm-damaged landscape as a jumping-off point for this installation. During my search for a site, this massive broken sign post caught my attention...it looked so absurd and out-of-place. It seemed to capture the upended, broken feeling of the surrounding landscape.
This piece is intended to continue the feeling of surprise that I felt when I first encountered the overturned sign. My idea was to create a small, positive, diversion in an otherwise bleak landscape. It is made mainly of pipes, plastic (which I have warped and melted), ducts and streamers. I connected, painted and decorated these disparate objects to suggest that they were related, or part of a system. However, I want the work's functional traits to be balanced a sense by ambiguity and mystery while the disparate elements of the piece appear organized, their overall purpose is not clear. Also, it was important that I use decorative, appealing colors and materials. These characteristics of the piece add a fanciful element to the work and contribute to its purpose as an appealing, mysterious diversion." Jessica Bizer (Please visit www.jessicabizer.com.)
We would like to thank Guy Trentecosta, the property owner, for his generous support and enthusiasm for this project.
6 comments:
when i returned to flooded areas after the storm, all the debris was all brown, all neutral and the same tone, no matter it's original color. I like this candy-colored detrius. to extend the thought into overused metaphors: it's like a flood of fun, a storm of play, strewn / stretched across concrete.
This was the first time I worked on a piece in a non-studio environment. It was exciting to plan and assemble a work in a area that had so many vivid characteristics of its own- scraggly weeds popping through the pavement, intense heat rising from the blacktop, and the occasional neighbor stopping by to ask what I was doing. Playing off these issues was especially engaging and interesting. Many of these elements had a direct effect on the work, providing many welcome surprises as I worked on piece.
Arts have a mass appeal and are the right working tool for publicity. 'Art In Action' proves its name for such brave and bright performances. Go ahead and get people's thought lightened up.
It feels as if the New Orleans viewer and city in general shares a similar existence like the materials found in this piece. It transforms into a great analogy for the ever-complicated regrowth, re-use, and re-transformation of us in this environment - making the most out of what we are given while still unable to escape the original characteristics and properties of our former selves (and city). Jessica has constrcuted a piece that functions both literally and figuratively upon our new aesthetic landscape as well as our personal experiences. I would enjoy seeing her continue and elaborate upon this work or similar projects.
Jess Bizer RULES St. Bernard!
Yes, and St Bernard RULES Jessica! Symbiotic relationships, the bleeding over and into eachothers' worlds, the communal struggle, the united strength - it's how we live in New Orleans, how we keep it alive.
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