“Making objects and marks is also about making possibilities, making choices—and that is one of the last freedoms we have. To provide that is one of the functions of art.”
Mel Chin, born in Houston and currently residing in North Carolina, creates work that is similar to Mark Dion's in that it is not rooted in any particular medium or process, influenced by disciplines such as alchemy, botany, and ecology among many others. For example he did an ecology project called "Revival Field," in which he worked with a team to grow certain plants and use them to actually clean up toxic ground.
"The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others’ ideas to be realized"
What really interests me about the work of people like Mel Chin and Mark Dion is that they seem to be expanding art in a direction where it becomes more than just the manifestation of the artist's views and ideas about how the world should be. They skip this step by researching solutions and putting them into action with the help of others, and this becomes the actual artwork. The work has influence in the same way, but also serves as a physical catalyst for change that has already been put into action.
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/chin/index.html?gclid=CNelsJKGyZkCFUFM5Qodrmm_uQ#
http://www.frederieketaylorgallery.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Chin
art nice posting.
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