The work I’m doing is part of an ongoing series entitled PRESERVATION OF THE SPECIES. I’m using a lot of animal parts–bones and feathers in combination with pewter, mirror and technilogical waste products, stone and shell. I think of the pieces as contemporarily primative. Hopefully they evoke responses that relate to the intuitive part of us–those responses that we generally try to repress.
Much of my general reading of late has dealt with primitive societies and the objects they use(d) every day; and their ritual objects. Many of these societies made objects whose intention was to imtimidate visually, ward off evil, draw power to the user or otherwise deal with the unknown. Many times I try to build in the desire–even need–to touch the piece while at the same time cause the viewer to be repelled.
I really want to elicit primal responses–the kind of responses that are unsettling–that we might not know how to deal with.
Many of my pieces are wall pieces. The cases have hinged doors so the wearable parts of the pieces may be removed–leaving the rest of the piece still on the wall.
J. Robert Bruya 