"The things that nature makes are always more beautiful than the things we make." - Blake Hiltunen
What would happen if you were to remove an artist's hand? Not literally chop it off, but to take their hand out of the actual physical creation of something? Well, you'd have some of art that you see in museums and many of the sculptures you see...and you'd have also have some of Blake Hiltunen's work. Now, for some artists, idea
creation is step one and then, for lack of time, skill, or whatever other reason, they delegate the actual physical creation of something to someone else (for a specifically embarrassing example see 'Exit Through The Gift Shop'). Hiltunen, a member of Portland's Dooryard Collective is playing around with that, and certainly not for lack of skill; but trying it with nature as his assistant.
Much of Hiltunen's most recognizable work is the direct result of a lot of planning and thinking, some design, and then a good amount of waiting. From his work with resin and homemade calcium carbonate (courtesy of oyster shells, marble, sulphuric acid and patience), to his work with ink baths and beeswax, the word here is patience. Many of the methods that he uses are incredibly time intensive, in waiting more than initial set up and creating.
Hiltunen talks about this process and explains that, for himself, it's partially about "exploring the way that materials react and organize themselves naturally and with intervention." For others, he's hoping to produce something that "isn't easily recognizable as what a material is or can do", which creates a "moment of excitement or can change someones perception of an object." He also finds himself exploring smell, partially because of it's intense connection to memory; something that is most noticeable in some of his larger pieces working with beeswax. The idea that a smell can trigger a memory, or that, quite possibly, an association could be built with a piece of artwork that would then be triggered in the future as a memory when the smell arose again. It isn't just smell though, it's all of nature that he seems to be interested in exploring and experimenting with. "Gravity, time, erosion," he says, "take those things, explore them, understand how the Earth works, how materials are formed."
For more photos of Blake's work, and to learn more about what he's done and what he's working on now, go to his site HERE.
