I create absurd lifelike ceramic contraptions and tools to perform impossible tasks. Whim Whams are absurd for the use of inappropriate material and their ridiculous function. They are playful tributes to the resourceful DIY inventor and a nostalgic homage to technology.
I mimic a manufactured component without the limits of its original material properties or constraints on assembly, then faux finish with acrylic paint to complete the impression of the real thing. However, if used as implied, the fragile ceramic material would break and the contraption is rendered useless. Since the contrivance couldn’t be used anyways as it’s conceptual function is totally impossible, the ceramic Whim Whams are as ridiculous as the intended tasks.
The concept and title for this work originated from my father’s explanation of an odd tool or unusual gadget: “It’s a whim wham for punching holes in smoke rings”. My imagination and mechanical interest were sparked: can I build a device of commonplace odds and ends that is simultaneously operative and yet unworkable? Reminiscent of a page from Popular Mechanics, Whim Whams illustrate and celebrate the ingenuity of craftsmanship.
Whim Whams are a humorous take on gadgets. There are a number of aesthetic influences in my sculptures: the satirical self-destructing machines of Jean Tinguely, the trompe l’oeil leather goods of Marilyn Levine, the unconventional gadgets in Jacques Carelman Catalogue of Unfindable Objects, and the unuseless Chindogu inventions. These artistic influences are appropriated into the dialect of the backyard inventor, and speak to our industrial civilization’s fondness for complex machines and widgets that perform ridiculously simple tasks. My Whim Whams commemorate these sentiments.
Christine g. Beaton 