 Protection & Security By Mark D. Klassen Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Mark Klassen, 2006. Edition of 125. 5.25 x 5.5"; 24 pages. Saddle stitch binding. Drawings, printing, and binding by the artist. Signed and numbered by the artist. University of Wisconsin, library catalog: "Drawings of objects such as window blinds, door locks, electrical cabinets, etc. The artist investigates elements of protection and security in a post September 11 response. Drawing various gadgets and instruments that are supposed to make us feel safe." Wisconsin Academy of Sciences arts & Letters: "Mark Klassen of Milwaukee ... create[s] artworks steeped in the politics and uncertainties of life after 9/11. Klassen is interested in the pervasiveness of protective and security measures in everyday life. His sterile, strangely disconcerting sculptures of ordinary object – like fluorescent lights, road signs, or drapes – raise questions about the relationship between real existential needs and false feelings of security. In a very real sense, the most banal elements in our environment protect us – not from terrorism, perhaps, but from the nuisances and dangers we are most likely to encounter. Window curtains, for instance, protect us from ultraviolet rays and Peeping Toms, while light fixtures prevent us from tripping over things in the dark." |