Nathan Skiles presented his collection of heavily decorated cuckoo clocks at the Sloan Fine Art Gallery in February. Totally upset I got drunk and missed his exhibition.
Here's some of his press package:
While the clocks lend themselves easily to observations on the convenient clichés and “rules” of time and space, specific (and repeated) themes within the works expand beyond immediate associations and evolve into musings on the self-consciousness and limits popularly ascribed to these rules. Specifically, in “Two Headed Boy Part 1” and the pair “The Vanitas of Vineta,” Skiles uses iconography such as the ouroborus, a wishbone, the Cottingley Fairies, George Washington’s wooden teeth and the Inverted Jenny Stamp to investigate how time, space, legend and chance influence our perceptions of identity, continuity, value and truth. And with his innovative use of foam rubber as his primary material, Skiles tricks the eye and obliterates the baggage of immediate recognition, further challenging his audience to look beyond the immediate and investigate the core issues presented in his work.
Nathan Skiles earned his BFA from Ringling School of Design and his MFA from Montclair State University. This is his second solo exhibition in New York.
Anyone know where else I can check out his work in person?
