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Written by Ryan Tramonte Monday, 26 October 2009 16:14
A Round with Ryan
It seems while everyone around me is fussing about what they are going to dress as for Halloween, I am being left in the dirt. It’s not that I do not enjoy the holiday set aside for celebrating the darker side of life, it’s just that the last thing I need to do is add more stress to my life choosing an alter ego for one night of debauchery. We all know I am perfectly capable of ruining my own reputation by never having shown my face at a single event for a month and somehow, I am out, drunk and biting midgets. If only I were as interesting as people think, or say, for that matter. Well, okay, maybe I am a little off the chain now and then, but really, this Halloween is going to be different. Not in the sense that I am going to choose a different costume. Oh, no, I am going to be a boy scout, for the fifth year in a row. In the past, I have been various versions of the tykes in uniforms. I have been a boy scout run over by a car, a boy scout that has been stabbed in the back, a boy scout/hooker, a white trash boy scout, and this year I am leaning towards a boy scout without a drinking problem.
But like Christmas and Jesus, Halloween is not just about the costumes, it’s about the iconic horror movies that have come to define our culture and its’ need for fear. Nothing says “Trick or Treat” like the sound of Freddy Kruger’s bladed hand passing over a metal railing. Any paranoid schizophrenic will tell you that showering has been a real challenge since Norman moved into town. That’s why this week we are going to be celebrating horrifying movie iconography. Each day we will discuss a different object. And today we start with Michael Myer’s knife.
I am sure you all know the story: cute Michael dresses like a clown and uses a big, shiny, butcher’s knife to carve a jack-o-lantern; the only problem is that Michael uses his slutty older sister rather than a pumpkin. Lock the little clown away forever, fast forward to 1980, add a dash of Jamie Leigh Curtis, and a pinch of Captain Kirk’s Star Trek mask, and we have a recipe for one of the most memorable horror movies of all time. Although the mask is the obvious star, it is the big shiny butcher’s knife that generates the thrills. Shiny, sleek, sharp, and long, it is the one thing in every murder scene in the movie we focus our attention on.
Using the words shiny and sleek, I have managed to find a New Orleans based artist whose sculpture couldn’t be any more in the opposite direction of little Mike’s murder weapon. However, the sleek lines and the shiny finishes reflect a similar level of emotion in the opposite direction. Instead of fear, the same look, illicts peace and harmony rather than fear. Bryan Mavor creates kinetic sculpture that is made from polished aluminum and responds gently to the changes in air current affecting them. It has been said that it was his attraction to sailing which led to his creation of art that responds to air currents. His work in the aerospace industry, and with motorcycles, gave him the knowledge of the materials he needed to begin a successful sculpting career in the early ‘80s. A standard Mavor design finds it beginnings in small sketches and then is moved to technical and mechanical drawings and is then born into a full sculpture ranging in size from tabletop to larger than life scales suitable for outdoor installation and showing. Once associated with A Gallery in the Woods, Mavor joined leagues of other artist who flocked to Bottomland Hardwood Forest retreat, built and designed to house and allow artists and nature to work as one for the sake of good art.
Although his medium is metal, the influence of nature and air is quite noticeable in his work. Primarily in the piece “Echo”, we see an airy composition that is not weighted down by the material being used to construct the sculpture. The cuts and positioning of each section gives the feel of a bird coming to rest from flight, and as wind moves through it, the art is cut by the sharp edges and passed smoothly on by the sleek finished surfaces. In the piece, “An Opposite Attraction” we see a heavier construction in an abstract form. However, that heaviness doesn’t weigh down the light feel of the sculpture. It is the shapes that Mavor uses, that aide in keeping the sculpture free flowing and natural. The center area resembling the motion of waves, and the circular forms at either end avoiding the weight that could develop from sharper edges of the centerpiece, are all perfectly connected with a sleek and shiny exterior.
While nothing could be farther from our horror movie icon of the day than Bryan Mavor’s work, it is the fact that he has taken a material and a series of shapes so often times associated with making weapons and injuries and turned them into peaceful, soulful sculptures that are interacting with nature rather than terrifying it. Same material, different use.
More information on Bryan Mavor and his work can be gathered by visiting http://www.bertaut.com/mavor.html. Or, by using the website provided number, 504.340.1611.
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| Ryan Tramonte |
 Ryan Tramonte is the General Manager of French Art Network and Rue Royale Art Partners of New Orleans. With galleries in Carmel by the Sea, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; New Orleans and Key West, Florida; the company’s family of galleries represents 54 artists from across the globe. With his office in the center of the French Quarter at 541 Royal Street, Ryan has managed to surround himself with some of the most beautiful aspects of New Orleans, its artists. Artists mold the way we think and live on a daily basis, they are one of society’s most prized possessions. Ryan, himself works in all mediums, but centers his work on painting and collage. |
