“sure, why not?”
paper collage, acrylic, pencil crayon
upcycled wood frame
46x42 in
a juxtaposition piece about “work” as we once knew it and work as it is in modern times.
the way we went about finding work used to be simple. we’d go to school or training for something of interest, get job in what we studied soon after graduation and after one interview, one follow up phone call, and a couple weeks to wait we were on our way to a decent life as adults with a pension plan and all was laid before us. we’d work at this job or a similar job for an entire career and climb the corporate ladder in a nice, orderly manner. this was what we were told and maybe we even experienced it for awhile.
today has changed——but for some reason the way we find work and the way we hire hasn’t changed and it’s causing some kind of havoc; unemployed workers [millions] are applying for new jobs in an old system. is this all even worth it? i’m tired of being rejected again, especially by a non-human. do i even like what i’m doing anymore? do i even want a 9-5 anymore? sure, it’s cushioned security——until the organization we work for does yet another round of budget cuts and nobody knows who’s gonna be hit next [it might be me and it could be you].
so what if more of us started to think outside the box a little with what work could look like? what if we seek to find opportunities that give us a child-like curious excitement, even if they don’t seem connected to our degree or what we [think] we want to do for a living? maybe wandering more is needed? maybe job hopping, switching entire industries, or contract work will be what the majority do one day? maybe the corporate ladder doesn’t actually exist and nobody will care if we take 2-5 years off to ride a side project, travel, or raise a kid? maybe there’s a better way of life out there than we could have ever imagined but we were stuck in an uninspiring cubical for 10 years and we don’t yet know another path to success?
we don’t know where any minuscule opportunity will lead us; humility is a hard [but necessary] lesson for any of this to become a smidge of reality.
with a bit of dry humoured sarcasm about corporate life and the status quo, this is a piece focused on opportunity and optimism about the future of work above anything [if we stay open to opportunities that give us a tiny spark inside].
1,200 CDN
available; please inquire
scroll to read about the process and to see artwork details
the process:
i wrote out by hand most of the auto rejection emails I’ve received this year alone and started gluing them on in no particular order. auto rejection emails all sound the same to me so i treated them all the same. this layer is hardly shown in the final piece [because these emails are not important] so i painted over that roughly, the texture and outlines of the paper to leave room for curiosity but nothing to be legible.
rejection is redirection.
then i cut out small phrases, words, or images from vintage books and magazines to build on the idea and then blended everything together with white and yellow paint as a symbol of optimism, carefully still letting specific words and phrases show through.
the connected dots and stencilled words further tell the story of opportunity, the people you meet, and the things you learn that lead you from one thing to the next. the final step was the golf ball that was dipped in black paint and then rolled around the canvas wherever it wanted.
because sometimes we just gotta jump in and and roll with it.
final look:
i showed this at a local art event where artists were exhibited around a neighbourhood in different locations and i was one of many at saskatoon makerspace.
since makerspace is kept dim with hanging patio lights for most events, i hung flashlights on either side of the canvas for people to hold up to the canvas and move it around to see the details as an immersive ‘treasure hunt’ experience——and it ended up looking kinda cool in photos and videos, too.
