None of this is Real, Phase #4, Santa Ana, CA, 2018-9
For the fourth phase of my evolving project, None of this is Real, participants were asked to bring an unwanted brass key to the Art Walk on Saturday December 1st, January 5th, and February 2nd. I took the unwanted key, melted it in a furnace, and poured into a mold to create a new key. I then gave that new key back to the owner and the participant could use that key to open the door of a custom made wardrobe that I constructed. Participants were then able to have a 2 minute solo experience inside of the wardrobes mediative and transportive interior. Recognizing that not everyone has an old key, I broadened the definition of “keys” to include anything that allows a person to exit one space and enter another space regardless of whether or not it’s a “mental” space or a “physical” space. This expanded definition of keys can include but is not limited to: ideas, people, places, things, memories, or traditional bits of metal. Paper and pens were available for people to create anonymous written descriptions of their unwanted keys to be burned with some recycled keys to create a molten-poured new key. Regardless of shape a participants key takes, I wanted to encourage people to participate in an “exchange” and “transformation” in some capacity in order to give up something and let something go in order to be transported to a new perspective. The experience was free and open to participants of all ages and abilities. Extra special thanks to my dear friend and art-hero Jennifer Locke for assisting me with the performance. http://www.jenniferlocke.net. Courtroom illustrator Miles Hochhalter-Lewis was hired to do live drawings to document the event. Grand Central Art Centers artist-in-residence program is made possible through the generous support of the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
