APAture 2002 : Artists

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Michael Arcega : Visual Arts

Cast Away, 2002. Paper mache, acrylic, pipe cleaners, architectural foam, cardboard, wood, spackle, toy motors, and Formica.

Cast Away is a work that deals with home, land, and place. It is primarily about the dispersal of a people and the individuals within that diaspora.

On the first glance, the interplay of these weird little "critters" are very comical and near slapstick. They bump and jerk around absurdly like blind and confused fuzzy insects. Their interactions are entertaining and amusing.

This piece was inspired by the many connotations of the word "islands." One can imagine a tropical paradise with palm trees and exotic fruits while slumbering on a hammock with a Mai Tai in hand. This is not what I was thinking of; the beer people already did that one anyway. I was pondering the Island castaways on our streets. Those people in the middle of Van Ness Ave. fishing for change in a sea of automobiles and the immigrants and overseas workers who left their families behind to earn a living on other lands. Hopping from one place/country to another in order to work, mostly alone.

The structures on the developed islands represent locations and industries that employ these individuals. Often, They are able to make at least double what they make in their native lands. However, these opportunities come with a price. Some of these workers are taken advantage of and are unable to defend their rights.

Hundred islands National Park, Philippines

An area in the Philippines called One Hundred Islands inspired the form for this piece. They consist of more than a hundred Islets on crystal blue waters. One can Island hop, taking a banka (kayak shaped boat) from one island to another. There are so many that quite a few of them remain nameless. Cast Away animates and anthropomorphize these islands, making them mobile in the artificial sea of Formica.

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