art auction 2017 - la salle universityblum/artauction_2017.pdfmedia: wood, paint, stain i am not...
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Art Auction 2017
I am auctioning off seven works to benefit the Sigma Phi Lambda's annual Coach Charles
Torpey Memorial Sig Phive K. All proceeds will go to supporting La Salle Academy (a very
deserving group dedicated to educating children in grades 3 through 8 whose life opportunities
are limited by financial, academic, social or emotional challenges, and whose parents/guardians
desire, but cannot afford a Catholic education).
The pieces are all made of wood. The work is mostly “additive” meaning that I start with small
pieces of wood and glue (“add”) them to some backing. Some pieces have a “subtractive”
element in that the lines or regions are carved out with a Dremel tool. Some of the works
incorporate “found objects” – art speak for trash picking booty.
Bids should start at $25 per piece. The minimal increment is $10. Email bids to
http://www1.lasalle.edu/~blum/ArtAuction2017.html
Bidding ends Sunday, November 5 at 7:00PM (Eastern Standard Time)
#1
Title: Float Sting (Portrait of Mohammed Ali)
Width: 16 inch
Height: 20 inch
Depth: 1.875 inch
Media: Wood, paint, stain
I am not much into sports but Mohammed Ali transcends sports. Growing up I was as likely to see him on a
celebrity roast show as on a sports show. Yin to Howard Cosell’s yang. He was from Louisville KY (like
my mother). He trained in Deer Lake (close to where I grew up). Both hated and revered. He changed his
name. Probably the first Muslim I knew anything of.
#2
Title: The Way to Archimedes’ Heart
Width: 24.5 inch
Height: 24.5 inch
Depth: 2 inch
Media: Wood, paint, stain
This set of shapes in known as the Stomachion. (Get it? – the way to Archimedes’ heart is through his
stomachion.) The claim is that the set of shapes was studied by Archimedes. There are many arrangements
(hundreds) of these shapes to fit in the same square. The diagonal lines are done with a saw.
#3
Title: When Carl Met Ana
Width: 18 inch
Height: 24 inch
Depth: 1.25 inch
Media: Wood, paint, stain
While the title evokes the Romantic Comedy “When Harry Met Sally”, the story of Carl (Andre) and Ana
(Mendieta) is no laughing matter.
#4A
Title: Poor Yorick 1
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .5 inch
Skulls are a classic subject in art. The memento mori. (The teeth were super hard to do.) My skulls are
perhaps reminiscent of those of Andy Warhol. The title is from Hamlet – a bit cheesy.
#4B
Title: Poor Yorick 2
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .5 inch
#4C
Title: Poor Yorick 3
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .5 inch
#5A
Title: Alphabet (GNU)
Width: 14 inch
Height: 8 inch
Depth: .5 inch
The alphabet was a subject for a number of pieces by Jasper Johns. I wanted to do letters and digits. That
would have been 36 symbols and fit nicely into the 12-by-12 panels I bought. My wood squares are 2-by-2.
Alas the stencil I bought did not have numbers.
#5B
Title: Alphabet (DINS)
Width: 8 inch
Height: 14 inch
Depth: .5 inch
#6A
Title: Broken (Practice for Ana) 1
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .5 inch
This piece came from practicing breaking up the squares to make the “When Carl Met Ana” piece. The few
squares with cracks that are pretty much straight were discarded from the Archimedes piece, they broke
along the saw line.
#6B
Title: Broken (Practice for Ana) 2
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .5 inch
#6C
Title: Broken (Practice for Ana) 3
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .5 inch
#7
Title: Put a Hex on You
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .375 inch
Just a design made from squares and equilateral triangles -- the sides of which are 1 inch. A friend said it
reminded her of Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs.
#8
Title: Hex Moon
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .375 inch
Design made from squares and equilateral triangles -- the sides of which are 1 inch. If you squint it looks a
bit like a full moon.
#9
Title: Quilted
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: .375 inch
Again with the square and the equilateral triangles. I believe this pattern shows up in quilts.
#10
Title: Tebahpla
Width: 24 inch
Height: 24 inch
Depth: .375 inch
There is no deep significance to the alphabet’s appearing backwards. It’s just that that damned Q was so
wide and so tall, I couldn’t make it work the other way around. My attempt with this piece was to be
intentionally messy. I make plenty of mistakes when I make this pieces, but I found it difficult to be
intentionally messy.
#11
Title: Leftovers
Width: 13 inch
Height: 24 inch
Depth: 0.5 inch
When I mix up colors and have some left over, I just paint squares. Then I try to arrange whatever colors I
have in a way that appeals to my eye. I seem to like nearly matching color progressing along a diagonal.
#12A
Title: Forgot what it’s called 1
Width: 6 inch
Height: 6 inch
Depth: 1.875 in
There is a name for this pattern, but I cannot remember it. I have drawn it almost as long as I can
remember – long before the video game Q*bert.
#12B
Title: Forgot what it’s called 2
Width: 6 inch
Height: 6 inch
Depth: 1.875 inch
#13
Title: Shim sham
Width: 24 inch
Height: 24 inch
Depth: 3 inch
The unstained wood is comprised of shims. Shims are an angled slat of wood used to level furniture. (I saw
a product review in which the reviewed complained that every shim in the package was not straight.) Glue
them together and you start to get circles or parts thereof.
#14A
Title: Leftovers again 1
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: 0.5 inch
I made my first leftover piece (see above) years ago. They are a bit reminiscent of some of the work of Paul
Klee.
#14B
Title: Leftovers again 2
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: 0.5 inch
#14C
Title: Leftovers again 3
Width: 12 inch
Height: 12 inch
Depth: 0.5 inch
#15
Title: Shim Shim Sher-ee
Width: 13.5 inch
Height: 11.5 inch
Depth: 7 inch
The drawer is a found object – a neighbor was throwing it a bureau. I loved the way the wood withered and
worn. I added some shim arcs and named it after a song from Mary Poppins. (The arcs are loose in the
drawer – inviting one to try his-or-her own arrangement.)
#16
Title: Partial Kroation in a drawer
Width: 11.5 inch
Height: 13.5 inch
Depth: 7 inch
“Kroa” is a work of art by Victor Vasarely. When I borrow the shape from him, I refer to it as “Kroation”.
This one is set in an old drawer but it is not fixed to the drawer.
#17
Title: Dysplasia
Width: 10 inch
Height: 32 inch
Depth: 2.5
Some shim arcs alternating their curvature.
#18
Title: Baby Kroation
Width: 5 inch
Height: 3.5 inch
Depth: 5 inch
The Kroation shape in miniature. The cubes have a side of one inch.
#19
Title: Shim Shine (on my shoulder)
Width: 35.25 inch
Height: 13.5 inch
Depth: 7 inch