Squeak Meisel (USA)
Squeak has a M.F.A. Washington State University, specialized on Sculpture and Installation, and is currently an associate professor for said university.
Artist Statement
The artworks I make grow out of an improvisational dialogue between materials and space. I enjoy engaging with everyday materials through focused meditative attention. Through this process develops a transformation of common objects into a new organism that lives in the space that informed it.
Any space will do. Often the quirkier more restrictive site the better as I must contort the work to engage, fill and resonate in a space despite its size or specific quality. The goal is to create a lyrical work that rises above the unforgiving circumstances of a site and the commonality of the materials. Within my palette exists a collection of colorful objects such as zip ties, extension cords, tape and tarps whose qualities were determined by industry. These mark-making devices are purchased at the local hardware stores, donated by friends or adopted on walks between two places. I am drawn to materials for their inherent qualities and the challenge of transforming them within the context of a viewer’s perception. I thrive on the moments when a viewer is momentarily swept up in the whimsy of a work. Upon arriving home from a recent exhibition I shared images with friends and colleagues. My greatest delight was a dear friend who wanted to know what the “vertical element” in a particular instance “was.” (It was a hammer standing on its head) It is in moments like these when one “forgets the name of the thing one sees” that we may truly have clear vision of the essence of things. We often see and associate objects with what they are before we allow ourselves to discover how they are. It is my goal to give the viewer this experience of wonder…even if only for a small instant.
