Joe Lanning

I've set up my exhibit in a way that will allow for a broad view of my works, by also turning it into one large art piece. This allows the viewers to walk by and glance, while taking in all the work in one look, for ease of purpose. The pieces lay about in an erratic, eclectic, almost accidental scheme brings more to the exhibit, by making it look more like my workspace, than a place in a museum. This workshop like design comes from my own pleasure of chaos. A chaotic life, filled with doubt in oneself, I’ve lived day by day- my exhibit is meant to show the disruption of life, the chaotic order in which one lives. It’s an idea that came while brainstorming an artwork on my life, and then it hit me- my artwork put together. This exhibition is my work on life, my grand idea to pull my works together, the chaos of life, the fakeness of those around me, and the beliefs I’ve lived by. I’ve lived by my belief of trying to balance it all, and toppling over many times along the way, as the chaos spilled out around me. This chaos put into how I display my works is what I wanted to give the world, a peek as to how I see life almost. I’ve always been told, “There’s a place and time for everything, is this the place or time though?”, and I’ve never really understood why that’s a question- what place is needed for this kind of work? I’ve decided to throw that old idea out, and do this by my time schedule, in a place of my choosing.

The works in this exhibit each help represent a facet of the chaos lived by each person. The Norse plate to show the two ravens, Huginn and Muninn- messengers of information. This information is a spread of rumors about us, the hate we see in the air. The cracked plate represents a need to respect the life we live, as it’s cracking from the stress. Each mask is an identity of each chaos we all live with- mystery, and change. The cat mask, giving off a mysterious feel to it, showing how we all hide a side of ourselves. The silent changing of the seasons from fall to winter on the last mask, meaning a change is seen like the present on everyone. The painting of the triple moons, showing a balance we all need with the yin-yang in the center of the piece, representing the balance between life and death. The second painting, the homecoming night, showing how we all smile for those around us. The center piece, my shelves, made to stand strong amidst this chaos, just like that stone we all have in our lives.

The way the works are hung and displayed communicate to my audience an almost chaotic scene, a mess of works. This chaos is meant to draw their attention to the whole, to see how each piece completes another. I envisioned this with more space, for me to use a wall to hang the items on, instead of how they’re placed. I made do with what I had though, and came to the conclusion that to help bring an attraction I needed to give a more simple and easy to see presentation. To show my works, and let people see them for themselves was the goal with this exhibit. I would love to put this small exhibit in a museum amongst other works of the same kind, of more eclectic pieces.

Huginn and Muninn

I was driven by my beliefs to choose this design. I believe in the old norse pantheon, and the greek pantheon as well. Huginn and Muninn are the delivers of information, the eyes and ears of Odin.

Ancients

This plate was a project I did in my ceramics class, it came about by me experimenting. I had asked the teacher what 3 glazes would look like, and she told me that no one in her class has done 3 before, so I gave it a try. It turned out quite well in my opinion so I wanted to include it in my exhibit.

Protection Shelves

I was inspired by runes and nordic works to put them on an old crate, and flip it over into a shelving unit. I put runes of significant meanings to me along the front, and onto each shelf.

Triple Yin-Yang Moon

My mum got a triple moon tattooed onto her wrist, and I thought of doing that on a canvas. Once it was down, it looked nice, but very plain, so I added the yin-yang to even further signify the balance between life and death in the artwork itself. I flicked purple paint onto it to give it a pop of color due to it’s very monochromatic scheme of colors.

Homecoming

I took a picture of my sister on her homecoming night dance, and painted it. I didn’t know her until I was 14, and she’s only 6 months younger than me, so I felt like I had missed too much of her life, and wanted to get to know her better over the past 4 years, which I haven’t done the best of.

White Magic

I took an image of my hand and sketched it onto a canvas, and drew one of my gloves over the hand, to add shape and lines. Above the hand is a floating pentacle wreathed in flames. This is a play on to how I practice Tarot cards and how the pentacle is one of my favourite cards in the deck.

Seasons

This mask was done earlier in the year, and I decided to do something different. I went with a simple color scheme of black and gold, and made a scene of fall leaves and dead branches, showing the changing of fall and winter. The leaves also represent how during winter, we might hide, or leave per-say, but with the coming of spring, we’re sure to return.

Anubian

This mask was inspired by my little brother and his love for the Egyptian god Anubis. I did something I thought similar to the masks of Anubis worshippers and with a little touch of my own. The mask is both ornamental and wearable as you could either hang it on a wall, just as much as you could wear it for halloween and scare kids away!

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