Wednesday, January 12, 2011

handcrafted modern/outtakes/kapel


I guess it is because of yesterday's post, but I find myself thinking about all the workshops and studios that were not in Handcrafted Modern. This is another view of John Kapel's workshop in his basement. He is incredibly tidy, as you can see. I really love that sculpture. It is an early piece. I believe it is made of particle board. Wish I could have taken it home, frankly.

1 comment:

  1. There are some curious details in this one -- the milk cart on the floor (if in fact it is a "milk cart"; if so, then it's from an era long past. Who makes wooden milk carts anymore? And the fact that they aren't made anymore says so much about who we were and who we are as a society. Not a value judgment, only an observation).

    Then, on the counter, there is the once familiar black and yellow Chock Full O' Nuts coffee can, famous on the East Coast as receptacles for nails, screws, or spare change collections. There used to be Chock Full O' Nuts diners in Manhattan, where one could buy a cup of their pretty-good (pre-Peet's, Starbucks, Ritual Coffee Roasters)coffee served in a ceramic cup and saucer, along with a piece of pie, or a bagel. The waitresses wore uniforms. This was not that long ago. Less than 30 years.

    How about the candelabra light fixture, just above the sculpture? It's oddly out of place. It appears to hang there just as his tools hang next to it, but with no apparent utility. Why? Or the two light receptacles, suspended from a frame in the ceiling, both missing light bulbs, and that don't seem to be attached to any power source at all, just like the candelabra is not. If John Kapel were at home, I would ask him: "John, what's with the empty light receptacles?" I believe there has to be an answer to such a question, and the fact that none is readily available, makes the photo and the precise meaning of all the contents in the photo as mysterious as the human life that assembled them there.

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