Travis Townsend

Richmond, Kentucky

Darryl's and Bob's Tool;
wood and mixed media,
14" x 48" x 10", 2004

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Rebuilt Domestic Devices

Playing off the functionality of tools, instruments, and toys, Rebuilt Domestic Devices are idiosyncratic objects that record and discover their own making. These process-oriented works take a winding path to completion, evolving from continuously redrawn sketches and traveling through many transformations before being cut apart and rebuilt. Parts are often transplanted, left behind, or recycled. Through this method of construction and reconstruction, I am able to intuitively build and make necessary changes at a later time.

My sources include vernacular architecture, Surrealist painting, and the wood sculpture of Martin Puryear and H.C. Westermann. A direct influence has come from the containers and carved vessels made by studio furniture makers; the most impressive of which is the home (human container) Wharton Esherick built for himself over the span of forty-five years.

Disregarding the aesthetic of efficient design and traditional craftsmanship, my "devices" push the boundaries of usefulness to create oddly familiar forms with room-like interiors. Viewers can see that my objects have handles, openings, and moveable parts, but the physical or metaphorical functions of these objects are left to the imagination. Curious inspection allows the viewer to patiently discover previously unseen drawings and spaces within the work. In an increasingly fast, displaced world, I'm attempting to build personal, impractical, and sometimes clumsy inventions that relate to our domestic experience.

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