Artist Voice/Artist Choice is a program where Minnesota artists use ArtsConnectEd.org to connect their own work with the collections and resources of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Walker Art Center.
Statement:
As a product of America's plastic, throwaway culture, it seems prophetic that I’m best at making art from stuff that people don’t want – stuff they no longer need, but don’t quite throw away. As the world becomes more polluted with this type of refuse, I see this process as a type of alchemist pursuit. This transformative activity can also be seen as a metaphor to how we as humans interact with the earth. The residue of this process is sometimes called art.
I try not to think too much while working. The pieces sometimes resemble an aerial view of a city. I don’t think this is a coincidence. All the things that are required of a society and its inhabitants to coexist are put together in a relatively haphazard way: an electric pole here, fence post there, telephone wire over the house. And most of this infrastructure creates a grid-overlap type pattern. We are surrounded by an infinite number of overlapping rectangles: the room you’re in, the house, the window to the street, the block, and so on.
Somewhere inside every toothbrush is the memory of you brushing your teeth, the way you brush your teeth, and the way you hold your toothbrush. No matter what I try to communicate about something, I don’t think I can compete with that sponge-like quality of objects. So I don’t try to; I just put stuff together and let it speak for itself.
Bio:
Erik T. Ritter received his Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute and his Bachelor of Arts from South Dakota State University. He also completed undergraduate coursework for the School of Arts, Philadelphia through the Vermont Studio School, and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. His visual arts interests include assemblage, painting, drawing, sculpture and video, but he also writes and performs music under the pseudonym of P. Skunk Willy and the Post Virus Apocalypse. Ritter is currently a full time member of the General Education Faculty at Rasmussen College in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. He resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
In this assemblage piece I use the "natural" colors of the found objects. It has a similar grid like construction as Nevelson's or Cornell's work, but it exists somewhere inbetween their styles. The composition is more concerned about the shape and color of the objects, as opposed to the contextual aspects of a Joseph Cornell box. It also relates to Louise Nevelson's work, but doesn't limit itself to a her standard vocabulary of wood pieces from the basement workbench. Where it bridges beyond their styles, is the element of depth provided by the overlaping shapes and colors pushing and pulling within the composition.
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I made this right after J.D. Salinger died. I feel it really works welll as a totem to Catcher in the Rye with the ram and little lamb figures in there.
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I'm most happy with the combination of title, look and feel that this work combines togather. It's hard not to give away the answer, but it's for me to know and you to discover. It is also hard to do a piece this close to black, as Louise Nevelson obviously has cornered the market on that.
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This is a direct allusion to Joseph Bueys performance piece from the 70's. Often called action art back then, I decided to make an action figure dipicting similar themes on the state of America. The full title is "I like America, and America likes me. The Sequel! Now with real dinosour growl action!" It has a button that you can push that plays a real sound sample of a dinosour growl.
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