Life Hack
On view: Nov 5 – Dec 29, 2022
Shop Maine Craft presents Life Hack, a solo show by Ian Trask at the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner.
Life on Earth continually evolves in response to changes in planetary conditions. How will nature respond to our present moment? As human activity irrevocably changes the landscape, who or what will survive catastrophic climate change and a global mass extinction?
In Life Hack, Trask speculates about this uncertain future. By combining discarded computer mice, electronic waste, and other man-made debris, he has created a series of fantastical specimens of cyborg insects. Equal parts machine and living organism, these sculptures draw inspiration from science fiction and the diverse fossil record of the Cambrian Explosion, a moment in time often referred to as the Biological Big Bang.
About
Ian Trask is a scientist-turned-artist. His sculptures transform materials of waste and commercial byproducts into refined aesthetic objects through an alchemistic procedure of reinterpreting a material’s value and usefulness.
In many of Trask’s sculptures, the viewer will find a mischievous invitation. Texture and tangibility are essential to the experience of these objects, and by provoking the impulse to explore, each piece rouses in the beholder the same spirit of curiosity, experimentation and play that occasioned their creation.
Ian received his degree in biological science from Bowdoin College in 2005. Following graduation he worked several years as a technician in various research labs and in 2007 Ian decided he wanted to leave the world of science to pursue a career in the fine arts. Leaving his job in the laboratory, Ian worked as a hospital groundskeeper cleaning up trash daily, an experience that proved to be formative in his artistic development. Ian saw the artistic potential in the waste he was confronted with everyday and quickly began working with discarded manufactured goods as the main platform for his pieces.
Visit the Center for Maine Craft
The Center is located within the West Gardiner Service Plaza, just south of Augusta.
288 Lewiston Road
West Gardiner ME 04345 (Map)
Contact:
(207)588-0021
center@shopmainecraft.com