Background:
The Christina River in Wilmington, DE is home to several new businesses
that have realized the power of a waterfront. Long left dilapidated
and empty since the boom days of the shipping industry in Delaware,
the waterfront is home now to ING Direct, Juniper, Mitchell associates,
Harry’s Seafood Grill and the marketplace, a hip new lunch-time
farmers’ market. AAA Mid-Atlantic is building its headquarters
in the same row. Just down the way, DCCA has been the new art destination
for contemporary art lovers.
Challenges:
When MkM Fine Art was approached by Mitchell Associates to answer
the theme requirement of “Sculling” for Dean Ward and
John Conley, we immediately realized what they didn’t want:
the cluttered look of Bennigans, and the corporate Eakins-like view
of the Schuylkill River that is so sought after in neighboring Philadelphia.
We were aware of the historical nature of the site and wanted to conjure
the spirit of old Wilmington from the shadows.
With a very small budget, a very large wall and little time, there
were no better artists to approach than Michael Biddison and Scot
Kaylor. Michael uses found materials tenderly, coaxing them back to
life and marrying odd bedfellows to create new things with a quirky
identity. Scot Kaylor is a sculptor who takes a hard look at found
objects and as a fabricator, welds and joins materials in new ways,
often using industrial materials as his medium to strive for the sublime.
Their complementary skills would result in a powerful collaboration.
Results:
Within a week, they conceived of a deconstructed, tribalized interpretation
of a rowing scull, using parts of old vessels, scavenged materials,
and treasures from their private collections. Their combined genius
found a use for odd metal plates that evoke water in its various moods,
and it is on this strange body of water that the transmogrified craft
lurches its way into the present.
The clients, trusting from the outset, afforded the artists the freedom
to construct a work of great expressive strength.
