Thursday, December 13, 2007

Candle Lights


I have been making slow and steady progress on two chandeliers. I have pretty much nailed down the design. Both are 10 candle .

I will put a real photo up on the blog when I get the peices back from the powder coater.


The image I am loading is a 3d sketch that I did in Rhino and rendered in penguin.

The show opens Feb 1 2208 at the Columbia center for the arts in Hood River.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Distance and Direction




Here is one of my more recent pieces:

"Line Study 1: Distance and Direction"
J Mayo 2007
1 of 5, Powder coated steel

It is about 6'4" high and 2' wide.  It is at once massive and airy.






Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Day Car




For years I have wanted to make some sort of art car. It has been in the back of my mind but I never had an idea that was compelling enough to act on. In OctoberI bought a new Mazda5 compact minivan type car and it was screaming for some kind of conceptual art project. I wanted to start with a new car so that the car and concept went together, as opposed to doing something with a car that people recognize as mine.

The concept of the car is that it always has the correct date writ large across it. I update it every morning before I drive the car. I use a temporary vinyl that comes off easily with no residual stickiness. I have a vinyl plotter/cutter. This is a machine that I use to make signs for businesses to keep the cash coming in when art sales are slow.


Why "Day Car"?
What has bothered me about most art cars is that they are moving yet conceptually they are static. Once you've seen a car covered in pennies or flowers you have seen it and it doesn't change. I live in a small town where I know many people and their cars. I wanted a concept that was interesting the first time you saw it and had some value to the viewer each time thereafter. The fact that I change it everyday seems to boggle some people's minds.

When we see cars with large decorations they are usually ads for a business or some sort of ego decoration (flames, graphics etc). The Day Car presents the date in a very bold way that plays against this expectation. The date is totally neutral. Nothing being sold, no call to action.

Here are some FAQs regarding the DayCar:

Q:"Hey, did you win that car?"
A: no
Q: "Oh my God, what did I miss, was I supposed to vote today or something?"
A: maybe
Q:"Whats so special about December 1st?"
A: its today.

Q: Do you repaint your car everyday?
A: hmmm...no
Q:"Is that how many days bush has left in office?"
A: kind of...

Q:"Does that have something to do with the killing in Darfur?"
A: no


Q:"I saw that car parked in front of a church; Does that have something to do with the end of the world?"
A: no

Another aspect of the project is its site specificity. My studio building is directly across the street from a bank where the time and Temperature are displayed on a big electric marque. During the day my car sits out front. It completes the picture: time,temp,date.

Being an artist, I never really had a great grasp on what the date was. I don't write checks or fill out form with any regularity. Having done this project for almost a month has really made me aware of the date. Now if I overhear someone in the supermarket asking the cashier for the date I proudly and loudly blurt it out- "november 22nd!!"

you see Now I know what day it is.

So, how long will the project go on? I have no idea. I definitely want to take it into the new year. It would be fun to do it for a year. Most days I only have to change a single number.
I will try to at least put a photo on the blog for each new month so you can see the font change.
November and December had a simple Arial Black 8". For JanuaryI went to a VIner Hand ITC. I like the look of it for January as It has a script look. The problem that I have with it is that it is very jagged and wavy and that makes
it hard to take off numbers without tearing them. With the Arial Black I could remove the numbers in one peice and evern reuse them.

Jan 22nd.- Today I had the wrong number on the car for a while. I changed the date last night so my brother in law could drive the car to me this morning. I walked out this morning and out of habit I changed the date beforte I drove the car. So I changed it twice in twelve hours. The car was parked on the main street of town for a few hours before my wife called me to tell me I had the wrong date on the car. I had the 23rd and the actual date was the 22nd. I quickly made a new 2 and put it on as quickly as possible.

So this is Blogging...

If you came here from somewhere else, please check out my static website- www.johnmayodesign.com .
It has a pretty good cross section of my sculptural work from 2001 to 2006 or so. The problem is it is a pain in the *** to update and a lot of my new work doesn't fit exactly into the categories that I created when I designed the site. It is also expensive to update and I never seem to get around to it as I have to have my stuff together and know exactly what I want done.

If you like my work and are at all interested in my creative processes then I think the blog will be a better resource although messier. Enjoy.