January 18, 2006

RE: Testimonial

To Whom It May Concern:

In late October of 2005, Alex Clausen invited me to his studio at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, to view some of his work.  His recent project involved elements of photography, painting illustration, as well as sculptural installation.  Closer inspection revealed that the photographs and illustrations relied entirely upon temporary sculptural installations that he created.  He explained that many of these were created by binding the furniture within a given room or space, such as a living room or patio, within its intended context.  In other words, the sculptures made of living room furniture were assembled within that very room.  He advised that once the furniture was assembled to his liking, photographs were taken and then drawings were made using the sculpture as a reference.  Since most furniture with a room has a utilitarian purpose, it is necessary for the sculptures to be dismantled shortly after completion so as not to disrupt the usefulness of the room or the lives of those that use the room.  It was at this point that Alex confided to me that it is not always easy to convince some one to allow him to tie up their personal space.  I offered my apartment to him without hesitation, excited to have my things transformed into his art.

As it so happened, my partner Jason Romine and I planned to leave town for the weekend, approximately two week after my visit with Alex.  Before leaving, we supplied Alex with a set of keys, granting him full access to the apartment while we were gone.  It was not until we were headed east on the Bay Bridge that I began to feel somewhat apprehensive about the project and the possibility of problems arising during our absence.  However, I quickly erased these thoughts from my min as Alex has never given us any reason to doubt his trustworthiness or level headedness.

Upon our return from the weekend, everything in our apartment was as it was when we left, if not a little tidier.  In fact, it took about twenty minutes before we remembered that Alex was to have been working in the apartment.  We called Alex and he confirmed that he had been in the apartment working for several hours on Saturday.

About a week or so later we received images of the installations he had produced in our apartment via email.  I must admit it was a little unsettling to see his creations.  I wondered if this was the feeling that those lucky first to view Marcel Duchamp’s Urinal (Fountain) felt?  However, instead of removing an everyday object from its context and thus changing its meaning, Alex seemed to achieve this concept without removing the objects from the space.  Alex’s sculptures, although present in my living room and kitchen, were by not means our furniture for that brief period.

Sincerely,

Allen Stickle

with

Jason Romine