Jason Rogenes
FORM FOLLOWS ACCRETION
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Works in Brooklyn, New York
Artist Jason Rogenes first found his raw material while living in the commerce-driven, big-box store, strip mall environment of Los Angeles where polystyrene was inexpensive and easily procured. In this abundant byproduct of consumer culture, originally designed to protect packaged electronics and other products, he saw the potential for material transformation. For Manuf®actured, he has created a floating, glowing site-specific installation in the museum’s two story main gallery flanked by a wall construction of polystyrene and cardboard.
Combining the essential properties of polystyrene (strength in compression and light weight) with its aesthetic properties (varied translucence and infinite variety of shapes), Rogenes appropriates this devalued yet delicate material and treats it as if it were a precious one, like marble or alabaster. He carves each pre-molded piece by hand before fixing it into position, using plastic-based glue as his mortar. Repeating this process with anywhere from five to 100 or more individual components, he creates pieces that recall totems, space stations, and cities in relief using equal doses of spatial intuition, careful craftsmanship and artistic vision.
Rogenes’ sculptures are the products of accretion, growing piece by piece into systems of connected and interlocking parts – complex, endlessly expanding three-dimensional puzzles comprised of individual solids and voids. By adapting to the idiosyncracies of his material, Rogenes saves polystyrene from its demise in landfill, while at the same time teaching us to look more carefully at the aesthetic possibilities that surround us every day.
WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION
Jason Rogenes, transpondor 3.03, 2008;
Cardboard,
EPS foam inserts, electrical components;
Courtesy
of the artist
and
Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles Projects
Jason Rogenes, diagram 3.03c, 2008;
Cardboard, EPS foam inserts, electrical components;
Courtesy
of the artist and
Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles Projects
Jason Rogenes, Site-specific installation, 2008; EPS foam inserts, electrical components; Collection of the artist
