THINGS karina spassova | makergraph
ABSTRACT My makergraph is a catalogue of things – controlled, polished, finite things shapeshifting through their various states into the surreal. They are reinventions of the circle – the purest form of the finite, yet infinite within itself. They are closed systems – they do not grow nor contract, they transform. It is a controlled and precise transformation of the finite thing from one being to another. Color is the material. It removes the burden of understanding its material self, its construction, parts and function. It transforms material objects to an immaterial thing. It becomes what I present it to be. It is the flawless plastic self. No one knows, but no one wonders. It is complete, so it makes sense. No one questions it.
COLLAGE
PLASTIC | HEAD | TEMPLE operational object 01 A thing is a thing specific to itself and its purpose. So is an object still the same object if it mis-used? A thing without purpose becomes a trinket. A helmet supporting a thing becomes a stand. A funnel in front of my eye becomes a looking glass. A looking glass repositioned at the mouth becomes a megaphone. What happens when an object becomes occupied in ways different from the original intention - when it is extracted and collaged into a new being? And to what degree may it remain in control of its use? How does it become occupied and why? I made a collage of things, which transform through re-invention. As the object rotates, the funnels multiply to circle the head. A collage of the collage is generated into a new invention. A re-invention. It is pink.
AGGLOMERATE
WOOD | HEART | CHAMBER operational object 02 I made a chamber of chambers – an armature of 300 candle cups. Or honey jars? Breadstick holders? They are mass-produced things and should have no identity. They should be perfect in uniform. They should look the same, move the same, and have no opinion. They do not have names, they are item #9119-40. The wood’s grain is its fingerprint, so I painted them to mask it. It no longer matters if they are wood, plastic or metal. Only mere traces of their material self is left in the cracks, splinters, and mill marks. Through agglomeration, the objects become unrecognizable. I assembled the pieces in the manner in which they want to fit - through the curvature of the objects’ bodies. They agglomerate into a perfect cylinder, though it appears to shift into a slant as it circles around. It is green.
MIRROR
METAL | HANDS | PURCHASE operational object 03 A reflection is a distortion of one’s perception of the original thing. My left hand is a distortion of my right hand, yet through this distortion, they meet. My right hand fits my left hand because it is mirrored. The pipes’ ends fit together because they are mirrored. The circular section of the pipe is skewed through angled cuts. I rotated to meet the mirrored edges to create two mirroring modules, which fit together to create another set of two mirroring modules. They join into a single closed system as a distorted handrail. As it circles, the perpendicular elevation is always the upside-down mirror. The object takes on a new identity from every point of view, shapeshifting while maintaining its physical rigid structure. It transforms through the distortion of perception. It is blue.
ARRAY
FABRIC | LEGS | DOUBLES operational object 04 I used two fabrics, lined at each end by two seems holding two wires, and stitched together at two points of connection to create a two-sided ensemble of two rows of two foot long mirroring openings that array around two legs and close behind at the two open ends. The 22 in. wide fabric wraps around a supporting wire mesh and lining wires, concealing its internal make-up. The plastic structure of the arraying object allows it to shift into different forms, opening and closing at its central and peripheral openings. It is yellow.