Steeped in a fundamental fascination with the essence, texture and plasticity of paper, and its’ intrinsic ephemerality, Michael Scoggins endeavors to transform the disposable into timeless sculptural works of art. The artist infuses the works with a tactile component of selective tears, crumples and folds, simultaneously imbuing the images with a palpable sense of history, while establishing the works themselves as objects. In the process he expands the very definition of traditional drawing.
Scoggins has been composing his, now iconic, monumental 67 x 51 inch notebook sheets for two decades. His awe-inspiring renditions, complete with spiral bound edges and hand drawn blue lines, depict how he is affected by popular culture and world events, and suggests how those forces have shaped all of our lives. The artist methodically metamorphosizes the temporal into the enduring, fashioning his art into tattered works infused with authentically rendered word play.
Scoggins’ art is emotionally charged, –poignant, charming, caustic, and smart. Combining elements which pull on our collective memories and heartstrings, he seduces us with his brand of sinister satire, – designed to embarrass us, highlight our similarities, distinguish our differences, and engender guilty amusement. The artist’s narrative romps encourage us to laugh, and fill us with feelings of nostalgia, melancholy, anger and frustration. Graceful and edgy, Scoggins provokes deliberation, makes us think and most certainly, charges us to sit up and take notice.
As simple as it is sophisticated, as accessible as it is provocative, Scoggins takes on the world like a kid in the schoolyard of life. With precision and a sublimely delicate touch, Scoggins’ meticulously crafts his art to look deceptively effortless, as though it were purchased at some Gulliver–sized Office Depot. In the tradition of the great Pop and contemporary artists, Scoggins redefines the ordinary and familiar and composes a new vision, and, in the process, –has created for the viewer an icon for the 21st century.
b.1973, Washington DC. Education: MFA Painting, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA; 2003, Fellowship, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME.
Scoggins lives and works in Kerhonkson and Brooklyn and with his wife, artist Alex Gingrow, their daughter Scout, and dog Tilly.
Selected Collections: Museum of Modern Art \New York; Hammer Museum \UCLA; Savannah College of Art and Design; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art; Schmucker Art Gallery\Gettysburg College; Governor of California Gavin Newsom & Jennifer Siebel Newsom; J.J. Abrams; Tim & Melissa Draper; The Mugrabi Family; Aby Rosen; Aerin Lauder; Stanley Gold; Jamie Tisch; Michael Strauss; Eric Shiner; Nick Cave; Toby Maguire; Richard Lovett; Todd Bradley;
Elizabeth & Dan Rabinovitsj; Guy & Nora Barron; Jeanne Greenburg-Rohatyn; Donny Deutsch; Paul J. Solit &Julie Berman Solit; Michael Agins & Robert Hanson.
