Matthew McCaslin

My interests in materials and my definition of what can be thought of as material in my sculptural practice has grown quite a bit in recent years and an artist that I have most recently discovered that is an excellent source for research in these matters is Matthew McCaslin. I am drawn to his use of old technologies in a contemporary way in terms of use and concept.

In talking about his materials: lighting and plumbing fixtures, coaxial cable, electric fans, light switches, VCRs, and video monitors, McCaslin states, “I find low technology’s simplicity beautiful.” McCaslin turns the American minimal-industrial aesthetic on its head. He is less interested in the mystique and the strict principles of Minimalism than in the aesthetic of the materials themselves, especially with respect to two specific issues: How can these materials be employed in sculpture, and what do the materials themselves suggest to the viewer? He seeks to transform building materials into lines, shapes, and circuits of sculptural signigicance. In most recent years he has also employed video and sound into the works.

I would have to say I share McCaslin’s views on the relationships between humans and technology. He feels that, like anything manmade, technology is subject to complex patters of use and function, innovation and obsolescence. Technology’s failures are akin to humanity’s and vice versa.

I have been very interested in both video and sound as of late and especially the layering of these as a means to engage the viewer and cause moments of contemplation within the work while at the same time being aware of my materials that will project these mediums to my audience. McCaslin contrasts the static character of the material with the continuous flow of electric power generating, among other things, an unrelenting backdrop of noise and a flood of nearly identical picture sequences shown in constant repetition. They are aesthetic models of complex energy constellations reduced to an experimental situation.

Yet another theme found in Matthew McCaslin’s works is that of nature. A parallel to my own interests as well. His video installations since the early 1990s have an inevitable yet uneasy coexistence of technology and nature, tow opposing entities that are nonetheless linked in today’s contradictory climate of industrial conquest and vigilant conservation. McCaslin’s thoughts on this matter are an excellent source for my aspirations to combine my media works with a sculptural material and esthetic that reads to the coexistence of man/nature and technology.

Harper, Glenn, and Twylene Moyer. A Sculpture Reader: Contemporary Sculpture since 1980. Hamilton, NJ: ISC, 2006. Print.

MacCaslin, Matthew, and Konrad Bitterli. Matthew McCaslin: Works - Sites : [Ausstellungsorte: Kunstverein St. Gallen, Kunstmuseum, 24.1. - 19.4.1998...]. Ostfildern Bei Stuttgart: Cantz, 1997. Print.

McCaslin, Matthew. Matthew McCaslin: Ausstellungen = Exhibitions. Ostfildern [Germany: Cantz Verlag, 1994. Print.