Sublunary

March 2009

installation with video and sound

MG Gallery, Oakland, California

My work presents a mythical account of the creation of an interesting world. It is an account of arrested feelings and the inhibitors of prosperity, of self-defense and suffocating comfort, of how fixed cycles become an unknown future. The generative thrust of creation, which is life, disrupts the order of life. In our quest for pleasure, we have sown ecological disarray. Cities choke on their own industry. The unthinking pressure of our genes obliterates whole tribes. Lovers suffer discord in the act of loving. We disrupt ourselves always.  Often life seems to fall off balance, but is this imbalance something we merely perceive, or do we create it?  (read the full artist statement here)

The full installation is meant to be viewed in the dark illuminated only by a rotating beam of light hanging from the middle of the ceiling.

Modes
February 2007
installation: sculpture, video and sound
Elliott Gallery, St. Petersburg, Florida

The fragility of life is a major theme in my work, as well as the inevitability of change.  During the firing process many of the tiles displayed on the walls warped precariously, and some cracked outright.  The Chinese prayer paper is held tenuously in place by pins.  The strength of these subjects and materials comes from their relationship to the timeless symbols that have recurred for years in other contexts, as well as their recurrence within my own work.  The constancy we perceive in life is only the evidence of a persistent pattern.

The Dainty Art Collective, Installation No. 1
Forrest Lewinger, Ainslee McAndrew, Stefan Ransom, Zoe Friedman

September, 2006
video installation and performance
The Studio@620, St. Petersburg, Florida

The Dainty Art Collective was created for the purpose of collaboration, discourse and support with other artists. Installation No. 1 is very much a conceptual extension of those principles; they helped to determine the allegorical medium of the show, which is the idea and image of combustion, explosion and flame.  The installation consisted of four separate video projections, each eighty minutes long, that were designed to sync in and out with each other. 

Shrimp Attack

December, 2005
collaborative installation and community event
Ransom Arts Center, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida

Shrimp Attack is a fifty-member collective of artists and musicians.  The first album, the eponymous Shrimp Attack, is an orchestral pop epic that tells the story of marginalized souls fighting for love and acceptance.  To coincide with the album's release, the artist collective created an outdoor sculpture installation, designed a clothing line and accessories, and hosted a giant shrimp boil.  All proceeds from the initial release helped to fund the programs at Creative Clay, a non-profit arts center that allows artists with developmental disabilities create and exhibit their work.
Shrimp Attack was conceived and directed by Stuart Hyatt.  Check out more of his projects at www.teamrecords.org