Email: michael@michaelkrondl.net
Website: http://michaelkrondl.net/art.html
Medium: installation, photography, glass, mural, landscape
Artist Statement
I am a New York based installation artist. I have created public art installations in the United States, Czech Republic and Canada working with both public and private agencies. Among these are New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Town of Vail, the City of Surrey, B.C., and the real estate developer Time Equities, just to name a few; the budgets have ranged from some $25,000 to $250,000. Many of these site-specific, outdoor pieces have responded to the immediate environment.
Though I cannot speak to the specific imagery I would use in in any given location my process would be much the same as in my other site-specific pieces. That is to explore the area, consult with the stakeholders and then arrive at a series of images derived from the local environment. These would then be digitally manipulated to create images of the appropriate size and scale and then output in a permanent, light-proof medium. Media I have used or explored include mosaic, digital prints on glass and tiles, as well as waterjet-cut stone.
To give an example of my process, to create the Vail 2011 installation, “Variation in Silver and White” I spent several days scouting the mountains and valleys surrounding the town, taking hundreds of photographs. I eventually settled on an image of aspens, in part because of their iconic status in the Rockies, in part because I could assemble them into a scrim that could reflect the rectilinear architecture. A series of photos were then seamed digitally into one long image that approximated what you would see if the garage weren’t there, (please see image) the idea being to “erase” part of the human intrusion and thus to reclaim at least a part of the landscape. Once installed, the image does indeed seem to puncture the garage to reveal the landscape behind it, at least from a distance. From close up, the viewers almost seem to step into that landscape.