| Celebrating flaws rather than correcting them--this is the aspect behind Hoss Haley's work that I find most intriguing. Hoss Haley is a sculptor out of Asheville, North Carolina. His depot for materials is not your common art store--it's the scrap yard. He tears a apart and re-purposes the metal from the machines and appliances he finds discarded there. Hoss' work explores "American ingenuity" and "throwaway culture." From dump to gallery--an odd parallel of the American dream? Many of Hoss' pieces involve an interesting play of organic and inorganic shapes. I was particularly struck by his sculptures in-the-round. I think the the most captivating part about the peices is the way they interact with light and create shadows. When first walking into the gallery, I thought the work was interesting but nothing really struck me. That was before I started sketching the wavy, rusty, hollow sculpture in the middle of the room. I starting paying closer attention to the shadows and saw the piece in a whole new light. The shadows are dynamic and add another dimension to the piece. As I walked around the the work, the shadows shifted and gave the work a sense of movement and energy. |  |
In addition to the light/shadow play of his sculptures, I found the Drawing Machine quite compelling. I think his attempt to address ideas of 'cause and effect' by having the machine's drawings stem from the movement of people within the gallery, is an interesting way to encourage viewer engagement. Unfortunately, the machine was not working on the day we visited the Visual Arts Center, but it was still inspiring to see witness the intention behind the art in the projected display and the mounted drawing.
