The ripping sound of tape, crunching cardboard, and sweat rolling down your chin.  This is a new way to look at blood, sweat, and tears going into a work of art.  

"I'm not interested in quality, No. 100% energy." Thomas Hirschhorn says. On  September 9, 2008 at the Carnegie Lecture Hall,  I listened to Hirschhorn speak about his art practices. Hirschhorn's Cavemanman is a hypersaturated sculpture made completely out of everyday materials, like tape, cardboard, foil, and duct tape

Hirschhorn spoke about how he visited Lascuax cave in France, but surprisngly the original cave is off limits to the public because it is so fragile. So they created a second cave called Lascaux 2. Similarily Hirschhorn creates his own Lascaux cave in the Carnegie. 

Pop cans overflowing from garbage cans roll down the unlevel floor.The walls are plastered in posters, clocks from around the world, pages from philosophical, political and social books. Books connected to dynamite linking back to mannequins dressed in silver paper. He even makes references to Lascaux with TV monitors showing  images of the famous cave paintings at Lascaux.  

A cave is a natural structure, organic, living, and evolving into something new. Hirschhorn's Cavemanman does just that. Although the content does not change, the environment in which they are placed is not static. Metamorphing to fit the gallery space the sculpture is like a fungus slowly growing and engulfing on a dead log.

What I love so much about Cavemanman is how Hirschhorn constructed it. The skeleton of wood planks  supporting layers of cardboard then plastered with duct tape. It's like a 3D collage and the viewer is the sort of glue observing and permeating this massive space.

If you look around your house or apartment you will probably find these simple every day materials such as cardboard and tape lying around. Waiting to be tossed out into some land fill somewhere they sit patiently waiting for someone to pick them up. And what a perfect material for an artist! With a little imagination Hirschhorn turned these mundane objects into something that is just purely cool and aesthetically beautiful. 

Posted by Tyler