Joel Kyack

LET’S SIT ON THE PORCH, IT’S NICE OUT

2011
wood, plastic, cooler, pump, hose, glass bottle, plastic chair, and balloon
44 x 36 x 42 inches

“I’m interested,” says Los Angeles-based artist Joel Kyack, “in how we strive simultaneously for something both glorious and pathetic.” In Kyack’s piece, Let’s sit on the porch, it’s nice out, one can see the delicate balance between glory and modesty. The work pays homage to sculptures’ reputed history by establishing itself on a base, and then subverts itself by exposing its DIY, thrown-together quality. This combination is essential to the work; Kyack explains:

I want the viewer to feel as though the work was finished five minutes before they arrived, that they’re seeing it in its raw workings, just discovered, no edges yet smoothed. Objects need to retain a visceral sense if they are to set themselves apart from other objects, mass-produced ones.

The piece also harkens back to use of sculpture as a fountain or water feature seen most famously in Renaissance works, though here the materials and subject matter are far more common. Joel Kyack’s work has been exhibited at Frieze Projects, NY; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and RISD Museum of Art, Providence, and he has an upcoming solo exhibition at Brand New in Milan in 2013.