Erik Wenzel was introduced to us as a possible participant for Nomadic Studio by Thea Liberty Nichols. We were unfamiliar with his oddly minimal work where he would hang tiny incidental scraps of art on the leftover nails from exhibit de-installations. As Nomadic was constantly in flux with art moving in and out, we had a huge number of bonus nails to work with. Erik surprised us by taking a different route that focused on his years of writing. “Erik Wenzel’s Bullet Points About Art” is an idiosyncratic list of axioms and maxims that Erik compiled and presented for the exhibit. It’s funny (e.g. there aren’t actually any typographical bullet points), pithy, and thought-provoking.
I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Erik, but I did see him painstakingly apply each and every letter in this lengthy text to the wall. He was working hard, so I got out of his way. Just recently found a nice clear shot of it, and have typed it out as-is below. Do enjoy!
I hope my networking is working.
Give me a job or just give me money.
If you don’t have to think about it, it’s not art.
Art is only for anyone willing to engage it.
Sometimes you have the object just to give a title to it.
It was then that I realized I could never have given up making things all together.
One way to look at the art object is as “the shiny thing that provides us with an excuse to talk about the idea.”
Is art a subculture? Or is it a field, like pediatric oncology?
I have presented you with objects & you have incorrectly described/explained them
The people I did not write about will be unhappy.
The people I did write about will not be happy.
Art & life are now two things that can never be completely separated of wholly combined. People are doing both simultaneously.
Artists will always be one step ahead.
Anything that poses the question of whether or not it’s “art”?
Sometimes objects get made.
As they need to be.
Trouble Ticket #WILYA174930
So many bad ideas.
I can make art as someone who is an interested fan go Minimalism (e.g.) not as someone who thinks he actually is a Minimalist.
Coming from the place of being on the outside of the periphery. Coming from the place of a deep commitment to art, but not of commitment to a specific mode, project or idiom.
Faith that over time patterns will emerge & edges will appear. This practice of mine, this œuvre, will take shape. But no expectation of, in a fact resistance towards, the notion of one total goal where everything makes sense.
Art comes about as a result of my way of being in the world as an æsthetically inclined individual who’s constantly encountering objects.
I love my cat.
Working toward actually believing you can do whatever you want in art.
To really experience art it takes time.
To exPerience art it really takes time.
Work by Erik Wenzel
Materials: Vinyl lettering
Website: https://artoridiocy.blogspot.com/search?q=nomadic
