Statement-
This practice deconstructs and re-imagines existing architecture in order to reveal implicit social tensions concealed within the surface of its facades. By tracing seams separating religious, state, and secular authority, I seek areas where overlaps occur and slippage between different conventions of thinking can create space for broader understandings to emerge.
Virtual maps such as Google Earth offer seemingly endless databases filled with 3D geometry that represent and mimic physical reality. Collecting digital models from these landscapes allows me to distort and amalgamate known structures, composing propositional objects that reference existing buildings but treat those recognizable edifices as sculpture.
By moving between digital and physical manifestations I unmoor my architectural subjects from their pragmatic limitations. Denying concrete reality, this practice extracts and investigates embedded histories, metaphoric potentials, and mystical substance contained within the structures. In Arrested Ascent (2011), the inverted steeple and buttresses of a protestant sanctuary afford the impression of a ship hull and keel, revealing a historical connection that the church room is traditionally seen as a ship, as is evident in the English word "nave" and the Norwegian "skip".
The works present conflations of several different figures of authority, socio-religious contexts, and often, irresolvable dualities. Within them references to conventional belief systems and sovereign structures are presented without the anchor of a literal context or ground plane and thus convey a world without clear direction, gravity or polar North. Faith and technology emerge as both vessels for hope and a means of control. Many of these gestures address humankind’s relentless if often confused desire toward transcendence and immortality, and express a romantic longing for new frontiers of consciousness.
e. benjaminstagl (at) gmail (dot) com
Bio-
Born in 1980, Ben Stagl is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Chicago, IL, USA.
Stagl received his BFA from Oregon State University in 2003, and is presently finishing his Graduate Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He investigates urban space through a variety of mediums including sculpture, performance, video, and installation. Stagl is largely concerned with how human beings continue to address and experience shared spaces. Many of his projects explore ideas of inclusion through object, often involving collaboration and elements of participation.
Stagl's projects have been reviewed by the Oregonian, the Willamette Weekly, Portland Monthly, and on UltraPDX.com. Stagl instructs casting and patina workshops for colleges and museums around Portland and Chicago, and has recently been a guest lecturer at Oregon State University.
Links:
Ryan Burghard - artist
Ben Buswell - artist
UbuWeb - resource
Ultra PDX - Portland fashion, design, culture
Gallery Homeland - nonprofit arts organization