Pretty Dead Things
Normandale Community College
9700 France Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55431
Opening reception - Thursday, September 30th, 2010 from 4:00 - 7:00pm
Exhibit runs through October 30th, 2010
 |
| red fish, 30 x 38 inches, dried fish, sand, acrylic on canvas |
Contact me through my website at
www.patrickpryor.com
Why bones and dead things?
I am a collector. When I travel and explore the outdoors I collect things from the woods or the shore that interest me aesthetically or otherwise.
I've been particularly attracted to the sculptural form of bones since I was six years old. Bones intrigue me because I am fascinated with internal structure and how it affects the way living things move and how they look. Found bones offer clues to the past, and allow us to understand biological life at a deeper level. Furthermore, I am interested in process and objects that have undergone process. In order for there to be bones there first must have been birth, a life experienced, a death experienced, processes impacting the bones after death, and finally, my own re-configuration and re-presenting the bones. I seek to explore new structures, new combinations and new forms.
About The Exhibit
In
Pretty Dead Things I explored the use of color and presentation to attract viewers to found objects from my personal collection that might otherwise repel them. In doing so I hope to present a new idea of beauty.
 |
| Along The Mississippi, 30 x 38 inches, found objects on canvas |
Along the Mississippi is a record of a late summer walk I took along the Mississippi. I found all of these bones, fish skeletons, rocks, shells, and sand along a half-mile of shoreline. The found objects represent a "curated" story of my excursion. My own unique perspective and propensity (or obsession) for collecting bones guides the material usage, and my re-composition of the objects allows one to experience the pleasure of "finding" each of these objects.
 |
| pink bird, 8 x 10 inches, bird skeleton, acrylic on canvas, wood box |
 |
| pink pelvis, 8 x 10 inches, found pelvis, acrylic, wood box |
 |
| pink skull, 8 x 10 inches, acrylic, wood box |
These pink boxes contain found objects presented as pink specimens in storage boxes. The pink is a non-sequitor humorous attempt to associate the object with youth, innocence, and new life.
 | |
| ribs on pink, 11 x 14 inches, found bone, acrylic on canvas |
 |
| skull painting 1, 12 x 12 inches, skull, acrylic on canvas |
 |
| skull painting 2, 12 x 12 inches, skull, acrylic on canvas | |
 |
| skull painting 3, 12 x 12 inches, skull, acrylic on canvas |
These skull paintings were an experiment in using a physical object as an inspiration for an abstract work that includes the actual object.
 |
| bone painting 1, 20 x 16, paper, found bone, acrylic on canvas |
 |
| bone painting 2, 20 x 16, paper, found bone, acrylic on canvas |
 |
| bone painting 3, 20 x 16, paper, found bone, acrylic on canvas | | | |
The red in the bone paintings are inspired in part by Salustiano, and it is also an attempt to over-stimulate the eye with an attractive red. It is the same red I use in many of my abstract paintings.
 |
| red ribs, 24 x 24 inches, found bone, resin, acrylic on canvas |
 |
| composition with ulna, 24 x 24 inches, found bone, resin, acrylic on canvas |
 |
| deer jaws, 24 x 24 inches, found bone, dead moth, resin, acrylic on canvas |
Deer Jaws is composed of found deer jaw bones (and one other random ungulate) to resemble a mouth or other opening. The moth was accidental, but I am pleased with where it landed.
 |
| trophy buck, 45 x 24 inches, bone, antlers, resin, acrylic, wood box | | | | | | | | | |
|
 |
| bones on fabric, 30 x 24, found bones, plaster, fabric, acrylic on canvas |
Posts
