48×40, Wayne Garrett, 2022
48×40 is a sculpture built from found materials, examining the physical relationship between nature, industry, and consumer. As consumers, we are often disconnected from the origins of the commodities we purchase, rendered unrecognizable by complex processes of refinement. How might we conceptually reconcile the differences between the organic formal disorder of natural resources and the rectilinear utilitarian formats of their corresponding material products? 48×40 attempts to reconnect these disparate states by presenting natural materials in an oversimplified cubic unit, palletized and ready for shipping.
The piece responds to the surroundings and context of Empire of Dirt, a residency near Creston, British Columbia, on the unceded traditional territory of the Yaqan Nukiy within the Ktunaxa Nations. All the materials were found onsite, providing the impulsive suggestions for the work to follow and develop. The existing pallet, previously used to deliver building materials to the residency site, serves as a physical and conceptual foundation for the sculpture – measuring exactly 48″ x 40″.
The sawmill at Empire of Dirt renders felled trees and deadfall from the surrounding forest into square and straight boards and timbers, used in the construction of the residency buildings. This transformation is straightforward, tangible, and direct, examining the relationship between resource and product. The typical consumer experience of this connection is less evident, hidden by the complex private machinations of industry.
While the sculpture is an experiment, created as a site-specific study while Artists-in-Residence, the work simplifies the correlation between the natural and processed states of material, rendering organic matter into a squared-off tangible object devoid of any practical function.
The sculpture was built by Wayne Garrett in Summer 2022, during a self-directed Land Art Residency (see also: Silent Picnic). As time passes, 48×40 weathers and changes. Chipmunks use the sculpture as an apartment block. Snow mounds on the cube in the wintertime. The lifespan of the piece is undetermined, flexible to the whims and needs of the space. If it lasts long enough, moss and rot will slowly accumulate. Perhaps new vegetation will grow in the crevices between wood. Until then, it stands; an alien cube of stacked wood in conversation with the surrounding forest.
With thanks to Marnie, Jim, Empire of Dirt, and our Land Art collaborators.
Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett 