Kevin
Brophy
Sculpture
Tampa
Florida
USA

Kevin Brophy, Map: the Portal and He’eia Woods, Slipdress (of unknown origin), yarn (of familiar origin), and brass hanger, 16" x 42" (hung)

American, playing from Tampa, FL, USA

I am a multidisciplinary artist, creative writer, and recent graduate of the University of South Florida. My work is socially motivated, and usually takes the form of performance-based interventions and/or fiber-based sculpture, but I do not restrict my art practice to any specific medium, nor media. I attempt to create tension and nuance in my work, and to exhibit a bit of dark humor; the result can be both serious and funny, or cynical, yet hopeful.

http://www.youtube.com/user/strawberriedalve/videos http://instagram.com/thekevbro#
http://shoulderpadding.com/
http://kevinbrophy.tumblr.com/

Thoughts on the Telephone process

I did not expect this project to be difficult, mainly because I work in a large variety of mediums. Yet, the piece I was given was a narrative video piece translating a work of fiction: a fantastical love story—my usual work is neither based in fantasy nor this type of narrative, and although poetic, it’s far from sentimental. But, I enjoy a challenge, and decided to use concrete visuals and themes from the video to work off of, almost systematically. In this way, I could calculate, so to speak, a piece that translated the work I was viewing.

I’ve always been interested in the treatment of a fictional space as a physical reality. Here, I like to think of my resultant sculpture as a hoax, a fraudulent artifact—a funny, odd thing. In this way, in conjunction with the use of mapping and textiles, I could insert my art practice into the translation. I mapped the ‘portal’ from the romantic narrative. I used the slipdress to represent the female and the furry yarn to represent the creature-male; these materials ‘worn’ by the ‘individuals’ is meant to relay a sort of intimacy. The mapping was placed near the heart, which is so obvious it becomes a bit of a joke, a wry exaggeration of the romanticism in the original work.

What I enjoyed most was the critical thinking involved. It’s great to realize that you can adapt, both manipulate ‘other’ and be a malleable ‘self’.

What
Came
Before
Film by Travis Wiggins
Travis
Wiggins
Film
Honolulu
Hawaii
USA
What
Came
Next