Andrew Schell

Gallery Affiliations: Julie Sauer Gallery, Fleckenstein Gallery

Region: Midwest

Website: http://www.andrewjacobschell.com

City / State: Grandview, MO

In my work the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each part is relatively simple, easy to handle, interchangeable—an inert part of a large collection. By putting a population of individual components together in an unfamiliar environment that has varying degrees of “terrain” and “topographies” in changing focus, unlimited growth is possible. An improvisational arrangement begins with gravitational pull and random interactions become more sophisticated and systematic until a higher law emerges. Order is created from the bottom up, as layers and layers of simplicity begin to convey new meaning and complexity. The collective emerges as more complete and significant than the individual and the environment is colonized. The environment becomes an integral part of the work because its physical limits have determined the interactivity of parts.

These arrangements are just moments in time. There is no fixed final outcome or status. Flexibility and the potential for future growth and filtration are emphasized more in this machine than any ultimate goal or ending. It is not the destination, it is the journey.