Montclair artist Stefanie Nagorka made the Washington Post today after she showed up at a Lowe’s Home Improvement in Alexandria, Va. and proceeded to make a sculpture out of patio blocks. Call it guerilla art. It’s all part of her plan to arrive unannounced and uninvited in big box home improvement stores in all 50 states.
Unannounced, I appear at home improvement centers around the country and use their aisles as my studio. With each visit, I enter and proceed to the garden center to build a sculpture of concrete blocks or pavers. Building beyond the homogenized look and feel giant chains have brought to the American landscape, I am utilizing generic building materials to create unique sculptures. Arriving unannounced, my work is usually done without prior permission or support from store officials. Building sculptures is demanding physical work: lifting and shifting, concrete blocks or pavers are carefully positioned and stacked. Referencing the human body through image as well as implied effort, these minimalist statues assume relaxed poses and gestures. The sculptures have a short lifespan — a few minutes, or perhaps hours. The photographs I shoot provide evidence of the action taken, and become the work.
Read the Washington Post story here (one-time registration required). Or go to Stefanie’s own website, to read about her other exploits and see pictures of her patio block sculptures, like this one taken in Bloomfield.
ROC, I’ll give you the floor on this one.
This opens up a whole new level of artistic behavior that we should all emulate, I think. I just can’t think of one that won’t get me arrested just yet.
>I’ll give you the floor on this one.
The floor? Can’t do much art with that!
I am a big fan of subversion.
I remember some years back on the NYC subway there were red-line-through-generic-people stickers to prohibit eating, loud music and the like. Some clever person(s) made invisible-to-the-unobservant replacements where the ‘generics’ were engaged in, well, ‘other’ activities.
Brilliant!
After a quick glance at her site (beautiful work!).
One remarkable thing is that, near as I can tell, this gifted woman is doing this art *without* NEA or other such government handouts.
Bravo!
Alas, I knew you’d come through with a solid comment.
Well, waddaya know? I have some paving stone sculptures right under my deck steps. Who new I was in the forefront of an artistic movement?