michael zelehoski

Blue Pallets, 2011

 I recently came across Michael Zelehoski's website. I don't even remember how I got there, but I've had it pulled up on my screen ever since. There's something really grabbing about his body of work. He seems to have a very particular way of working, which is innovative and unique, yet oddly simple at the same time. Are they paintings? Sculptures? Collages? Does it really matter? That's what I think is so nice about what he makes. At one moment I think I'm looking at realistic paintings (and nice ones, at that) with awkward, but believable view points that place the viewer in very distinct positions. Then I realize it's made out of wood! But even when the material's revealed, it's still a little disorienting. All of it is, really... the material, the angle, the process, and oftentimes the object depicted as well.

Zelehoski reveals his process in a short animation on his website, but by doing so he only makes the work MORE intriguing, not spoiling the awe one bit. What he does is collapse existing three dimensional objects to create two dimensional depictions of what they once were. He says...

"This simple gesture – which is basically just taking things apart and putting them back together flat – is at the heart of what we think of as two-dimensional, representational art. I’m just doing it in a very literal way and whereas the whole point of Magritte’s pipe was that it wasn’t. The whole point of these objects is that they are what they are." 

Picnic Table, 2010

mixed media assemblage with deconstructed picnic table, found wood and plywood 49" x 72"

Picnic Table (back side)

"Sculpture has been defined as a three-dimensional object in space. These are three-dimensional objects in two-dimensional space and although they find themselves trapped, unable to perform their original functions, they remain active and productive on the level of our experience. These objects, which have always been thought of as means to other ends, have become ends in themselves."

Tower, 2009