Thesis Exhibition and Reception

PHOTO: MEHDI HASHEMI

PHOTO: MEHDI HASHEMI

Once the performances were done, the objects were made and the video was all edited, The job of installing the work in the gallery began. This is really half true, because a few weeks before the actual installation started I had actually already begun building some of the shelves for the objects to sit on. Even longer before that, i was planning how it would all go up...and securing displays and the gallery itself. A lot of thought and work went into making the exhibit happen.

As all of the objects were shown in gallery setting in the last post, I will here refer you to the pictures there for image references.

Building the shelves was one of the easiest parts of making the display. I simply found scrap wood and cut the boards to size. Then I sanded and primed them with gesso. I bought shelf brackets and attached the shelves to the wall. Then painted them to match the wall white.

Placing the objects on the shelves was easy...figuring out where the shelves needed to be was a little tougher.

Several of the other objects were hung directly on the wall with nails or clear tacks. Still others on pedestals. Larger objects like the throne and half car were displayed directly on the gallery floor. Moving the car into and then repositioning it were the two most difficult tasks of the installation process.

I had to enlist the help of several people to help me move the car from the staging area to the gallery. Fortunately I had a lot of friends willing to do me a favor. I started off by using a chain to pull the car across the gravel to the pavement of the power arts parking lot. I had hoped that the steering would still work for the one tire, and I was lucky...it did. This made it fairly easy for us to push the jagged 1/2 car across the lot and control its direction fairly easily (i say fairly because the power steering did not work and much force was needed to turn the wheel). We pushed the thing right in the front door. It fit just barely through and we placed it in the gallery straight ahead of the door behind a column.

Later, as I began installing the other works around this position, a professor (a smart one) mentioned that what was there did not look as good as it could, and suggested I spread out. He noted that the car was in a bad spot, and that it should be moved to a certain place. At first this frustrated the hell out of me as I simply wanted to be finished with the project. I completely disagreed with him and argued for some time. I got so stressed out that I stopped working entirely. I smoked a couple cigarettes...then decided i needed to smoke weed and re-evaluate the situation.

After smoking I sat in the gallery for a while (a half hour or so) looking at it and thinking about what could be better. I decided to move the car (exactly where the professor had suggested realizing it was indeed the best spot for it) and then began moving everything else around, editing down and spreading out. The next day I organized some friends to help me move the car one more time. Doing this was simpler than I thought it would be. We simply pushed the car a little forward, cut the wheel all the way and pushed it to make the turn. Then, parallel parked it (cut the wheel the other way and went forward) into the perfect place. Rested the frame on the Jack stands and we were finished.

After that all that was to be done was touch up the paint on the shelves, put up the vinyl lettering title prepare food for the reception and place it on a table. Special thanks go to Josh and Eugene for figuring out the menu and preparing the food.

The reception (in my opinion) was a resounding success. There were so many people there that I felt I was talking the entire night. Almost all of the food was eaten and the majority of the beer and wine were gone. It seemed like everyone had a good time to me...I know I did. It was odd too though...there was a feeling like after all I had done the reception was over so quickly and there was a serious sense of the project being complete.