OWEN MORREL 
S c u l p t u r e a n d F i n e A r t s S t u d i o
S c u l p t u r e a n d F i n e A r t s S t u d i o 
| STATEMENT of PURPOSE: 4/22/03 | |
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I set out in the mid 1970's to "altar" the skyline of New York, to use the verticality of the city to reorient urban dwellers to the horizon by creating a reference or vantage point from which one could rediscover the dynamics of the city and some of the limitations it imposes on the psyche. Many of my early efforts transpired on rooftops in and around the city where the horizon is a prevalent fixture. The act of climbing,literally and as metaphor, remains key to these works. Using urban furniture and telescopic elements, I built site specific installations on top of buildings. Initially I employed the keen interest of street gangs to assist me in hoisting materials to the rooftops, as these installations grew more complex I worked with structural engineers and cranes. I have often asked that participants use my sculptures as vehicles, doorways through which the mind can pass in an effort to dismantle the act of perception and the order in which we are conditioned to perceive the environment. When our preconceptions concerning the built environment are undermined, we can be open to a zone of rediscovery. As routine anaesthetizes the creative spirit, the intensity of perception degenerates. I have built sculptures which move against this downward spiral. Accessibility and direct viewer participation have been major directions in the work. In the mid 1980's my efforts moved earthward. The pieces remained vehicular ; associative forms mapping paths for travel rather than dictating 'meaning'. 'Pilot Bridge',at JFK Airport, in New York City, and at the tip of Long Island; 'Gnomon' on Fifth Ave., 'Classroom' at the Walker Art Center and 'Lighthouse' in Oswego,N.Y. were the results of my desire to transpose the transcendental paradox which drove the rooftop projects to ground level. I have placed many public sculptures in urban and rural environments where the flow of viewers; pedestrian and vehicular , is constant and critical to the life of the sculpture. Recently I have addressed an additional movement in the work by designing pieces that can be recomposed and rearranged in situ through the introduction of tracks and barings as structural elements. I've built several lobby installations in New York at the New Museum Condominium Building on Broadway. These pieces are composed of numerous elements which are connected to one another by rods, hinges and sliding fixtures. The object/viewer dichotomy recedes as the inhabitants and guests of the building rearrange the various elements of the work by pushing, pulling and turning. The relationships,orientation, and direction of the various elements is altered directly through kinaesthetic involvement in the open ended creative process . Meaning herein is derived through participation in the creative act. Owen Morrel |
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