www. christopherengebretson.com

The inspiration of my current series struck me as I watched how people interacted with what became my first piece of the series, “Frailty”. I purposely removed pieces of the salmon and placed them on the pedestal, only to find that the pieces had been replaced onto the salmon each time I entered the gallery. I began to wonder that it was that made people want to interact with the piece. I thought of how this related to the human psyche: people have a tendency to finish what is incomplete and to fix what is broken. Frailty is meant to be about the degradation of the salmons’ habitat caused by anthropogenic interferences which weakens streams and contaminates fresh waters. However, the use of magnets gave the piece a sense of playfulness and satisfied the human need to mend what has been broken.

Following this piece, I’ve created a series of species that can be found on the IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature) that follows the same mode as the salmon; a combination of wood and steel bonded together with magnets. I consider the physical characteristics of the species, its color, skeleton structure, texture and most importantly, causes and/or solutions to revive the species. They are, in a sense, broken, which creates an inherent need for human repair. As I continue with this series, I find myself creating models of devastation to instill a feeling of anxiousness in my viewers. Each piece appears to be in distress, created with broken wood, exposed magnets and steel frames. I am also interested in lessening the interaction capabilities of some of my work so that I may accentuate its stability, frailty, or fortification.

A portion of my current work uses exotic and endangered lumber to create an undisguised conflict. The availability of rare lumber verses our willingness to protect particular species is astonishing. Anthropogenic causes are responsible for the destruction of many irreplaceable ecosystems and the species within them. My goal is to promote awareness of endangered species; all cannot be mended but humans have the ability to repair. Hence, the creation of the Polarity of Being, the Complilation.

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