Interesting that Jonathan Auger shares his last name with a common machine, since his art is based almost entirely on machines. Auger creates mechanical sculptures, which in turn, create their own art.
“They are more or less like Spirographs,” says Auger. “When you were a kid, you’d put a pencil in and start cranking on a gear and it twirls the pencil around. That’s kind of the easiest way to describe these pieces.”
Unlike the plastic gadget we all had as kids, however, Auger’s pieces stand alone as unique and visually interesting mechanical objects.
“When I was in graduate school I made some kinetic pieces that revolved around the human figure, reinterpreting the classical figure in a more mechanical way. But one thing led to another, and I put that on the back burner.”
Now he’s revisiting what he calls, “the collaboration between artist and machine.”
“It’s funny because I’m kind of a control freak. I need to have my hands in every bit of everything I do. So it’s interesting for somebody of my demeanor to almost allow a collaboration, but because I construct the machines it’s like I’m always in control,” Augur says.
“I create the machine, the machine creates the drawing, and both the drawing and the machine will be on display. And the machine will be producing drawings in the gallery,” says Augur. “It kind of questions, what is the art? Is it what I made, the sculpture? What the sculpture is creating, is that also a piece of art? It blurs the line of whether a machine could create a piece of art.”
Augur’s exhibit, Feathered Edge, will be on display at Material until the last Saturday of November. The opening is tonight from 6 to 8 p.m.
Material Art Space, 2553 Broad Avenue
