Will Pappenheimer's Globlots

I had a chance to see the SMFA Traveling Scholars exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts today and was completely blown away by Will Pappenheimer's work. Each of his composite pieces is made up of more than 8,000 hand-dyed pompoms that are adhered to large scale canvases. Pappenheimer's finds specific inpsiration for each work in appropriated YouTube videos, reworking the imagery into rorschach-like representations that can only be discerned from a certain distance. Much like the paintings of Chuck Close, the further from the work the viewer gets the more clarity is represented in scene. Pappenheimer asserts:

Globlots represents global blots: Rorschach inkblot tests conducted with global imagery. In an age virtual community, topography, and commerce, alternative approaches are needed to interpret excess information. Globlots suggests a reading of unconventional visual and textual meaning that encourages reconsideration; much global imagery has the potential for viewer reflection and identification. The possibility of this intimate relationship, in an often-overwhelming distant condition, is highlighted through re-presentation and translation.

For anyone in the Boston area, I would highly recommend viewing Pappenheimer's work in person. The textural quality of the Globlots work is lost when you view it online.







From Top To Bottom:

Tuk-Tuks Topiary, 2006

Versailles Mickey, 2006

Gone To Far, 2007

All Work © Will Pappenheimer