Local artist creates immersive photography exhibition through monthly installations
UPDATED: Feb. 1, 2018 at 2:44 p.m.
Trevor Clement’s artistic style embraces complexity, using materials like old cardboard to immerse his audience in his world. After having his work featured in art shows in Norway, France and across the United States, his first solo show, “Blood from Four Wounds,” will be on view at the SPARK Art Space at 1009 E. Fayette St. this Saturday.
With this monthly one-night-only installation, he aims to immerse people in a diverse world of both chaos and individuality. The first installment, Wound #1: “Inverted Mountain,” will be on view at SPARK Saturday from 8-11 p.m.
The second, third and fourth installations of Clement’s work will be shown in March, April and May, respectively.
Patrick Tuohey, co-owner of SPARK Art Space, said he hopes Clement’s exhibit will encourage artists to participate at SPARK in 2018.
“Trevor’s installation is going to bring the community exactly what SPARK is all about: an immersive experience in which you’re super close and personal with the art,” he said.
Clement uses a combination of audio elements, a photography display and an explanatory visuals book to showcase a nontraditional art process and gallery execution.
“I’m really interested in playing with all of the senses and creating this very encompassing aspect to the work,” Clement said. “So, dabbling in other media forms just kind of made sense to me.”
Clement plasters discarded materials on the SPARK space’s walls to “dirty” the usual clean, minimalist gallery setup, and to push the viewer to look and think beyond the photos’ frames.
Kai Nguyen | Photo Editor
While most consider cardboard to be low-end material, Clement said he enjoys the gritty, perishable qualities it holds.
“You take elements of what works so you’re not feeling like you’re just in a gallery looking at pictures, but you’re having an experience,” he said.
Clement has a background in music, which inspired his use of ambient sounds and noises to engage the viewer completely. He spent some time working with photographer Gregory Halpern to create audio renditions of Halpern’s award-winning photobook “ZZYZX.”
The skills which he developed with Halpern’s work and through some of his time as a musician have been translated into Clement’s installation and own artist book.
In his artist book — a black handmade cardboard case filled with booklets of photographs from the exhibit — Clement shifts from exploring nature to analyzing urbanization. The title of the first installation and artist book, “Inverted Mountain,” nods to the idea of Purgatory in Dante’s “Inferno.” In the epic, Dante identifies Purgatory as a physical mountain one must climb to reach Heaven.
Clement mentions that the same idea of finding a mythical place comes through when thinking about the Western frontier.
“The title of the artist book is ‘Inverted Mountain,’ so we might not necessarily be headed up toward Heaven through these concepts of purification and assimilation,” he said.
Copies of his artist book “Inverted Mountain” will be available for sale at the installation along with T-shirts and other products.
Much of the rest of Clement’s exhibition will be improvised. The first show, “Inverted Mountain,” and the fourth show will have some of the same elements and connections throughout its installation, he said.
But in the second show, Clement focuses on the world that wrestling creates and the characters and ideas that come from the activity.
“I really like this enclosed universe that it creates,” he said. “A lot of people like to make art about art. I don’t love, especially in artists’ statements, how they only talk about the process. I don’t want a book of instructions. I’d rather be taken on a journey outside of the world.”
The third show, titled “Blind Death,” is shown mostly in black and white photographs. That show takes cues from the narrative of folk-rock singer Joe Fahey’s life. The main theme of the installation is growing through hardships and the past.
Tuohey said he hopes those who view Clement’s exhibit learn that understanding the arts community isn’t a daunting concept.
“This is an all-inclusive endeavor with a seat for everyone at the table,” Tuohey said.
CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the time of Trevor Clement’s Wound #1: “Inverted Mountain” installation was misstated. The installation will be held Saturday from 8-11 p.m. The Daily Orange regrets this error.