///UP NORTH///
UP NORTH - The following works are based on the cabin that the artist's grandfather built in the north woods of Wisconsin. The cabin was a family gathering place during the artist's childhood lodging the vivid imagery into his mind. UP NORTH was exhibited at VALISE gallery on Vashon Island, Washington in 2012.
RINGERS & SINGERS - The Lawrence Welk Show and Horseshoes, were both common sounds come evening time in the great northern woods of Wisconsin that the artist combined into one video.
Installation view of UP NORTH exhibition.
The basement of the cabin held the pool hall where the men would retreat to during the evening hours. As the artist was a child, he was allowed to watch but not to play. The pool balls on the ceiling draw upon that sensation of things being out of reach.
NORTHWOODS ROYALTY - The mural on the back wall draws upon the 1950's-1980's decor of the supper clubs that dotted the north woods. The dietied buck on the wall represents a right of passage to manhood for that region and time that the artist loosely participated in without actually killing anything.
TAKE ME FOR A RIDE 1, 14x20”, acrylic on panel
TAKE ME FOR A RIDE 2, 14x20”, acrylic on panel
TAKE ME FOR A RIDE 1 and 2 - At the cabin there was always something to go for a ride on including a sparkling purple Yamaha motorcycle, golf cart, among others not depicted that the artist could only go on if someone else was driving.
In the gallery space, artist Matthew Olds built a replica of his grandfather’s north woods screen door, including a strong snapping spring to snap the door shut, which would ring out like a shot through the woods as people came and went. Once through the screen door, gallery visitors entered into a wooden room with a custom built bar where on opening night the artist served Green Bay Boo-Yah, a popular regional dish with deep familial ties.