"Stacking Up" at Central Booking in Brooklyn, NY
My most recent work, Stacking Up (2010) is an installation of hundreds of AbMods stacked and packed into a stepped-configuration. This work is on view at Central Booking Gallery in Brooklyn, NY as part of the Chemical Reactions exhibition, September 2 through October 24, 2010. See more Absorption Modules installations.
Absorption Modules 5 x 7, 2010.
A brand-new work, Absorption Modules 5 x 7 (2010), is on view in Castleton, NY during the Castleton Twelve Exhibition.
Artist Statement
“The ‘Absorption Modules’ or ‘Gardenstacks’ process came out of my early experiments in decay and working in concert with nature to create unpredictable stains and patterns. These works are made of various thicknesses of stacks of paper towels or napkins that are weighted down by paint or coffee cans, causing rust-colored embossments. The “stacks” or “modules” are stained with natural agents such as tea, coffee, wine, leftover foodstuffs, etc and left outside for period of 2-6 weeks. These units are then collected and dried and displayed in a grid-fashion to the wall, or simply as accumulated stacks.
I started making Gardenstacks in 1993 in my backyard, on the location that would later become a large vegetable garden, thus the original name Gardenstacks. I continued to make these outdoor works in the off season on the ground of the dead garden, in affect creating a ground cover. Later, I started making the stacks in other parts of the yard and experimenting with different shaped weights and staining agents. The idea that each series marked a place in time, that they were absorbing not just weather and stain-but time itself, led me to refer to them also as Absorption Modules.
~J.A.P.
Absorption Modules 8x28
A recent wall configuration was Absorption Modules 8 x 28, (2010) an installation consisting of 224 stacks pinned in grid formation to the wall. As with many of my previous formations, there are modules from many different years of my output and integrated all into one installation.
View a time-lapse video of the installation of Absorption Modules 8 x 28 at the Omni Gallery.
J.A.P. creating very early GardenStacks, 1993.
Portrait of J.A.P. with his Stacks at his studio 2008
Tags: installation, modules, process