I’ve followed a linear path for the past fifteen years.  I began doing experimental live-performed video, which gradually became a kind of narrative, media-based theater.  Later, I lost interest in working live, and my present work has a resemblance to traditional moviemaking.  Through all these phases of development, I have always used elements of physical assemblage, as well as a bizarre satirical humor.

Assemblage always seemed an unparalleled imaginative outlet.  Combine it with techniques purloined from the worlds of puppetry, theatrical illusion and video-graphic special effects, and the hidden lives of inert, neglected objects are revealed: an old, dirty dish-sponge becomes a jealous boyfriend; Styrofoam packing materials and broken kitchen implements are skyscrapers in bustling cities; a desiccated orange rind is a whirling dancer in a 1970s variety showcase; moth-eaten carpet-padding is a desert wasteland that a protagonist must traverse on horseback.

This is not something I learned in academia or in any career venue.  It began the first day in childhood when a cardboard container became for me a spacecraft, and some broken binder clips, robots.

Photos for this artist.

Residency: October 2007 - January 2008
Art Exhibition: Friday, January 25  &  Saturday, January 26

Visit Philip Bonner's website