Backburner, 2024
81 S. Professor St | See more photos
Backburner was an art show created by BFC1985, an Oberlin-based art collective that aimed to invigorate the Oberlin arts scene via unconventional art shows. Taking place in 81 S. Professor, a historical house just off of Oberlin College's campus, Backburner drew large crowds and subverted the expectations of what an art space should be.
As part of the exhibition, I chose to work with and within the space, creatively seizing the "house" aspect of the house show. I installed work in the main restroom as well as on the dining room table.
The largest of the two were The tank and The tub. My fascination with fish came to a head about a month before the show after visiting a family-owned fish store in San Francisco. The photos and videos taken there inspired months worth of work. I empathized with the fish; stuck in a small tank, not many options in terms of dating, and probably extremely ready to break free. This felt like a good metaphor for my experience as a gay man at a small college with only a few other gay men. I think it's worse for the fish though.
The tank utilizes a digital photo that I took at that fish shop. I manipulated it and made it halftone, cutting out each hole with a laser cutter. This foil was placed over an inkjet print of the fish, and the print shone through. I also used gold foil to highlight the translucent quality of some of the fish. This was installed over the bathtub.
The tub attempted to provide an even more in-your-face example of entrapment. Three robotic fish were released in the full tub, swimming around, bumping into each other and the sides of the tub. Viewers were encouraged to get close, touch the fish and help them as they continually got stuck against the side of the tub.
The last of the three pieces was Always more fish, a photograph turned into a puzzle that was placed on the dining room table. The title is a play on "always more fish in the sea," because in this case, there weren't. The fish are in a tank. People were encouraged to participate in the construction of the puzzle to eventually see the final image.
Thank you:
Martina Taylor
Indie Caldwell
Tyler Jester
Sophia Gliatto
Leah Yonemoto-Weston
Evie White
Ava Carubia
Fiona Giménez-Collins
Evie Fabricant
Ginger Kohn