09.28.10 : Guest Lecture Response : Miguel Palma

Bio : Portuguese artist, Miguel Palma, works out of Lisbon and NYC. He creates sculptures out of re-purposed industrial and used parts. Curator, Sarah Shalgosky, writes, “Miguel Palma’s work investigates technologies, particularly those of the automotive industry, and how they might represent and subvert the values of our world. His work also examines the social practices and impacts that develop from these technologies and he is particularly interested in ideas about reciprocity and value."
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Favorite Quotes:
"I couldn't have a fish always taking naps."
"I have a large group of object that keep me company."
**"Its part of my obsession that I keep adding and buying stuff."**

**This quote was my top favorite because recently I have been visiting a lot of antique stores and shops. I see a large collection of ideas and objects placed in one area that, the majority of the time don't belong together. In a lot of Palma's work, he uses a collection of seemingly random object that he has collected over the years. I find the combination and collection of these objects interesting.
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3 Words : Environmental Collections Sculpture
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The most important thing I learned from this lecture was the technical, mechanical and biological efforts that can be put into ones artwork. Much of Palma's work is environmental. Palma spoke about how he works with many people who are experts in different subjects in order to make his work. He comes up with an idea and then finds the knowledge and experience of other people who are more versed in a particular subject to help him make his idea into a reality.
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Original Questions :
Have your every been in serious legal/judicial trouble as a result of your work?
The only incident he described was getting in trouble with Animal Activist when he used fish in two separate tanks(one fresh water and one salt water) and filtered the water from one tank to the other.

Is your art a result of your interest in mechanical and technological objects and ideas? Otherwise, what sparked you into first creating artwork?
When he first started creating and building things, he did not consider his work art. It was later on in his sculpting career that he began viewing his work as art as it became more and more conceptual.
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The project I enjoyed most was Value made in 2002. In this work, Palma kept worms or termites alive in the antique piece of furniture and allowed it to decompose. The concept was to take something of value, an antique, and watch it lose its value over time.

I enjoyed this project because I have been researching and photographing this type of antique furniture in my own work. To see something of this value slowly lose its importance and beauty, is striking. Having learned all about this type of furniture and the effort that it took to create it, I feel a great impact in watching it decompose when in my photographs I am highlighting its beauty.