Regular readers may remember that Dornob helped sponsor a certain strange Camper Kart project,
and has featured a Camper Bike in the past – well, artist Kevin Cyr is back with a brand new exhibit in San Francisco titled Home In The Weeds at 941 Geary.
He describes this particular series as “a personal reaction to the fragility of our current society. After the worst economic downturn since the Depression, a feeling of imminent doom remains. With jobs scarce, and government safety nets shrinking, one misfortune — a layoff, an injury, or missed payment — can transform a person’s life beyond recognition. [The exhibition] examines the idea of shelter as a safe haven for a future worst-case scenario as well as more optimistic notions of home and self-preservation.”
“A small, tag-along camper towed by an old Raleigh 3-speed bike is the most romantic of the installations. It expresses nostalgia for innocence andexploration and is stocked with items reminiscent of my childhood camping trip.” Cute, portable and yes, I want one.
“A vintage tent is a transportable, but immobile shelter. Its canvas exterior disguises a built-out room with wood flooring, wainscoting walls and a wood burning stove.” Hard to say whether this is more for homeless or hipsters.
“A third structure is a stationary shelter constructed from discarded materials. Old plywood, rusty sheet metal and various objects scattered around the piece allow it to be completely concealed if necessary. Protectionism plays the largest role in this urban fort. It’s equipped with a CB radio for communication with allies, peep holes for scanning the surroundings and weapons for a last resort.” This one in particular is almost plan-less on purpose – more about process than product.
“Themes of the exhibition are also explored through drawings, paintings, photographs, and silkscreen editions. Portrait paintings identify characters that inhabit the tag-along camper and the tent house; still life paintings celebrate specific objects included in the shelters; and diagrammatical drawings emphasize the design of each piece.”
While not definitive designs for real-life abodes, “each [of these pieces] serves a different function and ideas of mobility, concealment and protectionism play a role in their designs,” all elements that factor into vehicles and houses as well, of course, but are more significant in these less sturdy, less durable and (likely) less safe shelter types.
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