Fractured Atlas Fiscal Support
David W Van Ness
I am writing to solicit your support on behalf of my Universal Sculpture. The Universal Sculpture is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of The Universal Sculpture may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
The Universal Sculpture is a collection of several smaller sculptures that fit together using toothed sockets and post joints. This creates a unique experience that I have yet to see in the art world. This sculpture system invites the viewers, whom I call collaborators, to help finish the design of the sculpture with the interlocking parts that I have created. Thanks to temporary connections provided by Velcro the next collaborator can come along and make their unique sculpture. This will eventually lead to groups of people working together to make even larger and more astounding sculptures. I will keep a log of images provided by the collaborators, gallery workers, and myself on a public webpage so that other people can see what everyone has come up with. Much of the conceptual work has been done for this project, and an example of potential of this project can be seen at my website at http://www.davidvanness.com/universal.htm. We live in a world of constant consumer customization so should are art be as customizable as well. Help me start this revolution and engage people with art that would otherwise not be attracted to art. Let us open their minds to the possibility of their creativity and the fun that you can have with art.
I have financed this endeavor over the past three years through my salary as an adjunct professor and my art sales. I was able to cut costs by attending a residency in Toronto, Ontario at York University where I was able to print my digital files using a stereolithography machine that uses light-cured resin to produce each piece.
I have already designed thirty-five unique parts: eight pieces from a sculpture of a cat, dog, and cow (a total of twenty-four pieces) and eleven other pieces that function as connectors and accessories. The parts are currently about five inches or smaller in their largest dimension. After casting several copies of each piece in my studio and inviting people to play with them, I found that the parts do not encourage the interaction or experience I had desired, so I intend to use this financing to increase the size of the sculpture sections.
To create larger pieces, I would need to use a computer navigation controlled router to cut the parts from foam and then make molds from those cut pieces for rotational casting. This would produce a hollow product similar in feel to that of a mannequin. The larger pieces will be twelve inches in their greatest dimension. Larger parts will allow the work to become more communal and encourage more viewers to interact with the universal sculpture. These sculpture sections can be assembled to tower high in the air and twist and turn through space, and with the larger scale, the pieces would have more presence and create a greater physical experience with the audience. I plan on exhibiting the parts alongside one another while displaying a video to demonstrate some of the creative possibilities of the universal sculpture.
Though much of this concept was inspired by the construction toys I played with as a child, the larger scale parts will make the viewer feel as if they are really making art as opposed to playing with a toy. To facilitate the connectivity of the pieces, each socket or post tip will have a piece of Velcro affixed to it. The smaller pieces are currently designed for magnets, but these do not quite work for the larger parts and are cost-prohibitive.
As well as redesigning the socket and post joint and enlarging the parts already designed, I also plan on adding to the number of sculpture sections. The figure has been one of them most common images historically associated with sculpture, and so adding human elements to the selection of parts will further the idea of actually making sculpture. I would most likely use a scan of myself in various poses for this addition. I will also add a few other connector parts, including more angled sections and more various abstract and organic shapes to help encourage the viewers’ creativity.
This project represents the grand opus of my goal to push the viewer into a more active role in creating their own David Van Ness sculptures. At its current scale, the project will not have the physical and intellectual impact that I have envisioned. It is, instead, allocated to the “art toy” category as an oddity and, therefore, quickly forgotten. By enlarging the actual size and number of parts to the whole system, I believe that the piece will engage the viewer and generate more collaboration from the viewers, as well as engage their creative side that played with those construction toys as a child.
Please take some time and review my webpage (www.davidvanness.com/universal.htm) and when ready navigate to: https://www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2650 to pay by credit card or send checks to:
David Van Ness
439 Valley Glen Dr.
Richardson, TX 75080
Checks should be made payable to Fractured Atlas, with [In behalf of Universal Sculpture] in the memo line. Any and all amounts are welcome, but please do not send cash as Fractured Atlas is unable to process currency of any kind. I can also accept donation of equipment or labor in lieu of fiscal support. Please help this unique opportunity become a reality.