Saturday, March 21, 2009

Kevin Van Aelst

Kevin Van Aelst's work appropriates everyday artifacts to recontextualize geography, mathematics, astronomy and cell division. In his statement, Van Aelst expounds:

"This work calls upon historical tenants of conceptualism and minimalism. Conceptual art has shown that the ideas behind a specific artwork can be more important than the aesthetics or visual appeal of the piece itself. The serial process, showing each successive permutation of a fractal pattern, refers to minimalism. Equally important to this body of work is humor—via odd juxtapositions of sophisticated content with banal subject matter.

This Body of work is about creating order where randomness is expected, defying natural probabilities, so that lint stuck to a sweater forms an accurate star chart of the summer sky over New England, and milk spills from its carton into a logarithmic spiral. I use common everyday objects and foods to illustrate timeless and lofty ideas. While the subjects of the photos are artifacts of modern culture, the content of the photos, such as the Golden Mean, are often ancient and revered notions."











From Top To Bottom:

Right Thumb, 2007

Summer Constellations (lint and thread on sweater), 2005

Cardboard Box, 2008

Hawaii, 2007

Logarithmic Spiral, 2004

All Images © Kevin Van Aelst