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PASSING THROUGH
ARTIST'S TALK |
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Mike O'Shea - Introducing
the Artists
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Mike O'Shea And Dan Pillers
After Lighting The Installation, January 2005, WORKS/San Jose |
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three as artists come from diverse points of view, which makes, for
us at least, this collaboration interesting in its dynamics and
perhaps has influenced the result. We have surprised ourselves with
how well we were able to work together on this project, as
collaboration is not our common method of working. I will give you a
brief sketch of our backgrounds.
Our
points of commonality are: (1) San Francisco, for what that's worth,
(2) Attendance at the San Francisco Art Institute - Judy and Dan in
sculpture, and me in printmaking, (3) a long friendship, not to count
marriage between two of us, who only happen to be of the opposite sex. |
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Dan
has been making art forever, and from his resume you will see an
impressive list of shows, both as soloist, as participant and as
curator. This is the second time he has exhibited here at Works. He
has been extremely active in the gay community, using art as an
effective means of communicating what it means to be gay in a largely
straight world. He has created works with real impact on the subject
of prejudice, AIDS and of grief that AIDS has on those affected. His
is largely an art with a message and yet it is always alluringly
beautiful, albeit often with thorns. Words and allegory play a big
part in the composition of his work, whether they are performance,
installations, or occasionally painting. His works are not obscure;
they speak directly and forcefully and hit the viewer in the gut.
Judy
has a unique sensibility for place, for space, and an ability to
visualize installations where we mere mortals cannot. Her work cannot
commence until the site for the work is defined, as for her it must
be integral with the entirety of the site, not just hung on a blank
white wall. The place will to her dictate the material and means, but
she has shown an ability and preference for working with large-scale
handmade oriental papers and fibers, and with steel or wood. Each
installation is preceded by research, and the history of the place
will find its way into the work, often in subtle and hidden ways.
Like Dan, her work when in place always strikes at the senses in a
way the bypasses the intellect, and affects the body in much the same
way that good architecture affects us in indescribable ways. |
Dan Pillers Installing
Exhibit, January 2005, WORKS/San Jose |
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Mike
(me) came a little late to this project, when another artist
withdrew. I am a recycled businessman (as is Judy) who returned to
art school to find another way to think and look at the world. My art
world is primarily of the two dimensional variety, based in
photography, painting, printmaking and bookmaking. I am affected
mostly by the intangible quality of imagery of nature and of the
world I see. My art does not for the most part have a social message,
but I look for subjects, which strike some common cord of non-verbal
recognition. At times I work abstractly, and more often realistically
from photographic images. I am taken in by technique and love to try
new or old and forgotten processes of image making, purely for the
sake of the experience. Book making is a rewarding approach, as it
combines some form of written communication, with the visual image,
and wrapped in a sculptural form. |
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"River Man", Dan
Pillers, Coupiac France, 2004 |
Judy
and I divide our time between California and France. We have shown
our work more extensively in France, where exhibition space
ironically is easier to find. Dan has visited us on several
occasions, once for some time doing sculpture. He has made a number
of remarkable figurative pieces there, which were intended only to
last until destroyed by nature, which sometimes last a week, and
sometimes several years. The last work was under the waterfall at our mill. |
"River Man" Hit By
Flood, Dan Pillers, Coupiac France, 2004 |
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