Artists "Review" Artists: Bob Barbera on Jenn Figg

The Artists "Review" Artists Project was launched on June 30, 2008.  Below is a "review" of Jenn Figg work, Forest Rat's Absence of Need, written by Bob Barbera.  Jenn provided the second jpeg, an image of Cubular Box of Earth, as well as a brief response to Bob's "review."

Jenn currently resides in Richmond, VA, and Bob lives in Cherry Hill, NJ.

If you would like to participate in this project, please email me at jtkirkland [at] gmail [dot] com.

          
forest rat's absence of need
cardboard, digital pigment print, adhesive, wood, paint
74" x 66" x 66"
2008

The "Review"

"Forest rat's absence of need" is a sculpture reminiscent of a diorama on the dusty third floor of natural history museum whose heyday preceded color movies or television.  Giving the viewer a glimpse of something mysterious and majestic, something only the stealthiest naturalist, the most determined observer could experience in its unique nature.  Taking a quick look out from his cover, a shrub of fanned out digital print glued to cardboard, the "Forest Rat", looking much like the skeleton of a goat, is ready to forage for dinner or shrink back into his bush at a moments notice.

The nature the Forest Rat lives in is one of telescoping birch trees, dime store fake philodendron and 3 dimensional fanning shrubbery all placed on an orange Chippendale ball and claw footed pedestal, set in a corner where its illusions can be seen from their best angles.

As a snippet of a fantastic naturalist environment or an obvious playful cut and paste experiment, forest rat's absence of need, asks its viewer to enter its world and for a moment, believe.

By Bob Barbera

  
Cubular Box of Earth
3D modeling still
2008

The Response

Thanks for reflecting about the work.  The diorama angle is a way of thinking about it – sort of a staged snippet in time. I considered the many different viewpoints that this work can be seen in – in one position, the objects flatten out entirely; from another perspective they are simply unembellished form.  I am intrigued by the way we engage / see a flattened space – the two-dimensional space of a video game, for instance – and am interested in pulling that environment out from the digital realm into the physical.

By Jenn Figg

Previous "Reviews":
Pam Farrell on Ken Weathersby
Paula McCullough on Aric Calfee
Lee Gainer on Leigh Waldron-Taylor
Aric Calfee on Paula McCullough
Matthew Ballou on Heather Levy
Giovanni Garcia-Fenech on TJ Norris
TJ Norris on Giovanni Garcia-Fenech
Susan Tolbert on Mary Klein
Heather Levy on Gail Vollrath
Sharon Butler on Matthew Ballou
Mark L. Power on Steven Alexander
Steven Alexander on Mark L. Power
Molly Norris on M. Trigos
Ken Weathersby on Joseph Barbaccia
Sondra Arkin on Susan Tolbert
John M. Adams on Sharon Butler
Michael Paul Oman-Reagan on Brent Hallard
Daniel Mafe on Pam Farrell
Joanna Knox on John M. Adams
John Lucien Grillo on Joanna Knox
Brent Hallard on Lisa Klow
Joseph Barbaccia on John Lucien Grillo
M. Trigos on Michael Paul Oman-Reagan
Mary Klein on Imants Ozers
Richard Schemmerer on Michael Konrad
Michael Konrad on Richard Schemmerer
Jennifer Mawby on Lee Gainer
Lisa Klow on Molly Norris

Comments

[Fabian]

Great blog! Thank you for sharing this....its not easy to find a good art blog.
Well done.

[LeeGainer]

I find Jenn Figg's work very interesting, especially as an online gamer and artist. Good Post!