cabin




1995

Community garden,
near Hyde Park, Chicago











The cabin was a wood shack designed to host works from other artists in an unsetteling environment. It was a prefabricated structure installed in the garden of Dan Peterman near Hyde Park in South Chicago. It remained open at all time. The walls were battened all around allowing a 360 degres view on the near surrounding. By doing so, a painting installed inside always would be in the position of masking the urban landscape while interacting with it. It would cease to operate as a window.
        I invited Gaylen Gerber to collaborate. He suggested a panel covered in gray paint on both side. The color had also been applied on the edged as well. It took the full width and height of the interior space and pivoted on an axle placed at the first third of the space. To circulate inside, one had to push the painting like a door. It was closing and revealing the space of the cabin and the view on the outside.
        Later, the artist Jim Lutes prepared a large drawing to be laying flat on a table top in the middle of the cabin. It could be looked at from every sides, inviting the viewer to walk around the drawing.