( updraft ) 2024
repurposed brushed aluminum, graphite rubbed Giant Sequoia pinecone, aluminum frame and hardware 17 x 1.5 x 21”
This work is constructed out of repurposed hand cut and brushed aluminum that is used to create a scaffolding system that cradles and closes-in on foraged Giant Sequoia pine cones that have been treated with layers of graphite. These works convey a Human-made system making contact with the natural world and the implications of that exchange through a lens of climate and ecological crisis. The pinecones themselves were foraged on the West coast and are interesting objects, as a seed-bearing element of an endangered type of conifer that is over 3400 years old that have over time naturally adapted to forest fires as these cones will open-up after being exposed to extreme heat. The graphite renders these cones as an object and as if they came into contact with fire, a natural formed element with mythical significance that needs a force of destruction to grow.
( crossover toolbox ) 2021
altered Craftsman crossover truck bed toolbox 71 x 19.5 x 17”
The deconstructed crossover truck bed toolbox has been dismantled to the point where the object remains as a frame or scaffolded image of its previous self. Dissolving this specific object shifts the utility container that once kept its contents locked and secure, no longer mobile and mounted on a pickup truck but still signifying the potential of expansion, construction, and labor. This object also acts as a footnote to the full-sized, heavy-duty pickup truck as a romanticized and rugged American symbol of class, value, gender identity, power, and freedom foiled by excess and hazardous warming emissions.
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by COCA.
Gary LaPointe Jr.
United States
Gary LaPointe Jr. ( 1991, USA ) graduated in 2016 from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Sculpture and was also awarded the 2016 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center. He received his BFA from Lesley University College of Art and Design and was also a resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2013. LaPointe has exhibited nationally and internationally with select solo and group exhibitions at Roman Susan (Chicago) Randy Alexander Gallery (Chicago) Galerie B-312 (Montréal) LVL3 (Chicago) EVERYBODY Gallery (Chicago) Heaven Gallery (Chicago) Lunder ArtsCenter (Cambridge) Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen) and at the Royal Academy of Arts (London). LaPointe is also featured in 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow published by Thames and Hudson and BEERS Gallery (London) in 2019. He attended the Wassaic Projects Residency in 2019 and also received a Purchase Award from the WAO in 2020.