Phoebe Washburn was born in Poughkeepsie New York in 1973 and now lives and works in New York City.
Purpose: At first glace Washburn’s work appears to be loaded in critiques on the production of waste specifically from industrial materials, however she claims her work is not about the glorification of recycling or the denouncing of consumerism, but that the reuse of objects just comes naturally through her process. She claims, though she is inspired by the work of others in this area her work is more about the materials and the use of both organic materials and the found materials she incorporates in her installations.
Process: To create her installations, Washburn collects different materials that interest her, mainly from dumpsters and the street. These materials tend to consist of wood, cardboard, pencils, tape, tacks, nails, stickers and other materials she may find in the gallery. As she compiles these materials she cuts them to similar shapes and sizes and ships them to the gallery where she will assemble her installation with screws and nails. Washburn says this on how she selects her materials: “I select objects that have already been worn, already marked and already discarded because then they are already in the state I want them to be. They are what they are already.” Along with these materials she tends to incorporate an aquarium or garden element that includes both plant and animal life.
Works:
Phoebe Washburn, COMPESHITSTEM- the new deal, 2009, Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover
Washburn on constructing installations:
“My sculptures depend a lot on the spaces where they are shown because they often are anchored into the wall but chance is definitely more of a factor in the final product than is any predetermined design. I just let the structures evolve by repeating the same action again and again. The process has a slightly neurotic element in that it involves adding little behavior habits. As silly as it sounds, I often feel as if my assistants and I are beavers building a dam. The shapes are less about form than they are about the activity involved in amassing and assembling the forms.”
Whitney Biennial
Phoebe Washburn, It Makes For My Billionare Status, 2005 (installation view, Kantor/Feuer Gallery, Los Angeles, 2005).
Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin
Phoebe Washburn, Regulated Fool’s Milk Meadow, 2007
Washburn on Regulated Fool’s Milk Meadow:
“People read it as a sad gesture about the cycle of life and death, and that surprised me a bit because initially the grass was just an excuse to have a factory,”…”The sculpture is the industry producing its own parts, and the cycle of production and waste is right there in the gallery.”
Sources/Links:
http://www.deutsche-guggenheim-berlin.de/e/ausstellungen-phoebewashburn01.php
http://whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=artists&page=artist_washburn
http://www.zachfeuer.com/phoebewashburn_2009.html
