Zachary Magill

My approach to art starts with obstacles I find immovable. I make work on crowds, and what it feels like to lose individuality within that sort of space. My whole purpose of working is to create a conversation with the viewer and make them ask questions about form, color, and systems that they exist in. Because I shape my own painting ground out of wood, the edges sculpturally promote the rendered forms of depth within my painting to show the viewer that there is a framework of ideas that we exist in, whatever it is we think or feel can be found in others, and thus bring us closer together. I also promote this idea by creating repeated sculptures that suggest human characteristics. There is too much hate in the world and unfortunately, a separation between people because of terrible and unrealistic ideals. I try to create a dialogue with the viewer by showing forms that exemplify equality and show that true difference comes from how we feel. Humans are more alike than not, through my paintings and sculpture I try and convey this message. Symbol means, "a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract." It can also be a shape or a sign used to represent organizations like relief programs, religious groups, political parties, etc. In my own context of art, I use a reoccurring symbol to portray an idea of crowd, and the reassurance of similarity.

When looking at my work, the viewer is immediately confronted with the question of their feelings about either a crowd, or the masses because I create forms that repeat themselves. I start by creating a large organic form out of one inch ply wood that acts as a silhouette of my overall composition. My paintings have to be thought out before I start because the edges of my ground act directly on the forms I render; where I cut a large round circular form, I then paint a gradient rock like form that fills in the cut out shape. This makes my paintings look like the paint itself is what is constituting its framework. I do not hang these works on the wall, instead they either have a kickstand that allows them to stand in the middle of the room, or they lean against the wall on the floor. I find this incredibly important because I think of these paintings like a movie prop. Movie props are meant to fool the viewer into thinking an entire scene is depicted. Because the front of these paintings are rendered, rock like forms, that suggest infinity due to their quantity, movement around the object is important. The front of the paintings ask the
viewer how the depth is rendered, but quickly can be found out through movement around the object. I find this relationship vital to my work because it makes the viewer move past the constraints of physical form, and exist within the space of my work. I have become increasingly interested in our vision and how we see. I focus on how the way in which we see does not just promote the literal idea in our head, but also, depending on what we are looking at, can create a visceral feeling. In my painting and sculpture, I try to achieve these feelings by limited my color palette, and reproducing form until its the smallest it can be and still fit within the composition or the initial silhouette I cut out for myself.

This notion of filling a cut out space with a crowd lead me to my ceramic, plaster, wood, and metal sculptures. When I would create my movie prop paintings, I was inspired by the movements around the objects, and initially, I was interested with how when people feel a particular way, they can attract other people that feel the same way. Here I thought of expressing these nuances in peoples personalities with sculptural forms and materials that ground us in the real world. When I make four thousands ceramic sculptures that in whole create their own little world and dialogue, I want the viewers initial interaction with these objects read them as all the same, but from a closer inspection, one starts to point out the nuances in the sculptures personalities, just like that of a humans. Some of the sculptures have large noses, big eyes, sharp smiles, endless baggy eyelids, butts, mustaches, other sculptures growing out the top of them, etc. The purpose of these differences is for every individual that looks at my work, in hope that a conversation sparks in their head that, “maybe people are not that different.” Because the characteristics I choose to represent these sculptures with is humorous and cartoonish, it allows the viewer to activate an in-between space within themselves. One does not know whether to laugh or feel uncomfortable around my work, and such is the state of how we live today. This in between space is where the conversation between my work and the viewer is strongest. Just like with my movie prop paintings, the in between space comes from when someone moves around the pieces. Because I give this lighthearted approach to a heavy subject, the materials are what communicates this message. I use wood, ceramic, and metal, but because of the way they are treated, do not feel weighted down. Instead, they have a lighter breath because of what they have been carved or sculpted into. Because the materials are kept to their bare make, the viewer can ask questions on the sculpture without it being initially resolved. What I mean by this is that my work is supposed to serve as a device for people to get outside of their constraints and realize that we are more alike than not. I want the viewer to ask, “These forms clearly suggest human characteristics, but why are so many rendered in the same material, without paint or treatment? Is it because if we were to look at ourselves, and that the differences between each other is a finite percentage?” We use our eyes in so many ways: to see color, to see form, and I believe activating this vision can send positive messages to the brain.

I am aiming to achieve not a message, but a change on how people view objects and each other the world. We, as a human race isolate each other based on the constraints we give each other. I try and form work that shows these constraints but also shows that our true individuality comes from ourselves. Through sculptural systems that show separation, and paintings that show crowded depth, I want my work to show people that we are all human and that the hate in this world can be solved with the positive link and conversation between people.