forkartist

finding potential in old, used, and retired silverware

The Artist > Ian Trask

 Ian Trask is an emerging artist living in New York City. As a sculptor, he explores the inherent aesthetics of material waste.  His compositions present the disassembly of salvaged, once-functional objects, and their re-assembly into aesthetically motivated arrangements.  He argues that one of modern civilization’s greatest tragedies is the abundance of waste that results from an out-of-control, consumptive materialism in an industrially advanced global marketplace.   By choosing trash as his medium he reduces the material demand he places on his own immediate environment while also suggesting to his viewers the importance of redefining how we look at our waste.

  Ian did not always consider himself an artist.   Despite showing potential and latent interest in art earlier in life, his career began in science. After graduating from Bowdoin College with a B.S. in biology, he spent two years working as a research assistant in a genetics research lab. While studying science and working in the lab, he explored the potential of metal utensils as a sculptural medium.  His collection of bent silverware sculptures bear witness to the uncertainty with which he approached his future as a scientific researcher.  He eventually came to understand that the true strength of his creativity lied not within the research world, but rather in the field of artistic expression.  Despite leaving his science career behind, a scientific background continues to prove useful and provides him with a more accurate understanding of the physical world, and his place therein.

For three summers, Ian has worked as a contributor to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.  Under the supervision of artists John Bisbee and Wade Kavanaugh, he was one in a team who designed and curated a festival-wide collaborative sculpture installation made almost entirely out of yarn.  It was during the development of this project in 2006 that he lost his way home.  Now, no longer a scientist, he works as a picture framer for Axelle Fine Arts in Brooklyn.  He resides and sculpts in Ridgewood, NY. 

contact at: itrask@gmail.com