The House of han
Parts of This Place
Presented by Paragon Art Collective
The Stash, Royal Oak, MI
October, 2021
Video: [Peasant Life]
Editing: Evan Zott
In Parts of This Place, I created a permanent installation for The Stash and a solo show inside their gallery. For the installation, I found inspiration in the floor of a luxury car garage. I pulled colors directly from small stones scattered in the concrete floor that lay hidden beneath my feet. I magnified them onto the wall with a 16’ x 120’ mural and three 10’ x 10’ canvases layered on top to bring a heightened awareness to the subtle beauty that hides in plain sight.
One of the goals of my practice is to illuminate ubiquitous truths that are too close to see. Our daily lives aren't sensational, or news worthy. Routine can be boring. But the choices we make everyday impact us and others in ways we often can't see. Living well is something we all want, and it's heavily influenced by the mundane daily tasks we pay little attention to. I believe in order to make transformative change in ourselves and the world, we must first learn how to see these things that are unsensational.
In the gallery, I created a series of paintings on blueprints salvaged from the Packard Plant, an abandoned automotive factory. The drawings are of components for cars made from 1958-1960 and the artwork is painted organically, without planning or sketches using a graffiti mop. This show connected to the place in which they were exhibited, and Parts of This Place was a microcosm of Metropolitan Detroit.
Parts of This Place Photos
By Marina Pia Goldi
Parts of This Place Video
Video: [Peasant Life]
Editing: Evan Zott
Permanent Installation Process
Exhibition Installation & Video BTS
SO. MUCH. CONTENT.
And I have more.
So I didn't write words, 'cause this page would go on forever. Cars have a very special place in my heart, as I spent every summer of my childhood in my Grandpa and Uncle's auto body shop in Ann Arbor.
It's a big long story (if you go through these pages, you'll find I say that a lot.), but in short, after grandpa immigrated he taught himself how to become a master mechanic, and with his eldest son built a successful business, and Uncle had two 911s at the same time (he'd buy heavily damaged sports cars and fix them).
So I got to be around a lot of really cool cars when I was young, and to this day, my two favorite smells in the world are gasoline and car paint fumes.
Parts of This Place was made possible by so many talented peoples:
Curator/Art Advisor @ParagonArtCollective
Venue & Vehicles @The_Stash_On_Delemere
Vehicles @Platinum_Motorcars
Mural @Ed_Irmen
Art Handling/Canvases @CHejka
Canvas Stretching @RichardWilsonArtwork
Photos @MarinaPiaGoldi
Video [Peasant Life]
Editor @EvanZott
And a very special thanks to Alex Wysocki!