Final Paper: Artist Review Nemo Gould and Carl Pisaturo

Nemo Gould

 

Nemo Gould was born October 3, 1975 in Minneapolis, Minnesota but soon moved to Nevada City, California where he grew up. Named after the Protagonist in Windsor McKay's comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland," Gould's work has ironically evolved to reflect quite similar styles and methodology of comic books and science fiction. He is an American artist and sculpture who is known well for his kinetic found-object and two dimensional graphic work. Most of his work gives off a whimsical feeling even though it is made from harsh metals and wood. The way he mold his pieces together create a smooth and delicate representation. He cites Clayton Bailey as one of the main artists his gets much of his inspiration from.

He earned his BFA from Kansas City Art Institute in 1988, as well as earning his MFA from the University of California Berkley. He was the Alma Matter of his parents, potter Linda Webb Elfert and ceramic artist and sculpture Arther Gould. Much of his work has been displayed at the San Jose Museum of Art, the Berkley Art Museum, and the Arizona Museum for Youth. He also has other work that can be found in national media such as on the Discovery Channel, Wired Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Make Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2007 Gould was chosen as an Artist Residence at San Francisco Recycling and Disposal, Inc's Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center. This is seen as an extremely high honor in the Bay Area found-object artist circle because of the opportunity to have free access to all the waste that is collected daily.

After finishing his education, Gould found himself free of constraints and able to express his true self. This led him to follow many of his childhood dreams. We can see this through his work as he explains, "My work appeals tot he 7-year-old boy mind, because I still have one... I take silly very seriously." His art let the viewer attempt to reconnect with their inner child and reminiscence in the wonders and dreams of youth through material found in their dull and consumer driven adult life. Gould's intentions are to evoke a childlike response from an uninterested adult.

Gould's Statement to his work is:

"What makes a thing fascinating is to not completely know it. It is this gap in our understanding that the imagination uses as its canvass. Salvaged material is an ideal medium to make use of this principle. A “found object” is just a familiar thing seen as though for the first time. By maintaining this unbiased view of the objects I collect, I am able to create forms and figures that fascinate and surprise. These sculptures are both familiar and new. Incorporating consumer detritus with my own symbology, they are the synthesis of our manufactured landscape and our tentative place within it-- strong and frail at the same time."

Man-on-a-bike

 

 

This is Gould latest perspective of his man-on-a-bike theme, which is also his favorite piece. It is a mixture of brass and aluminum on top of a wooden piece that is solely for display purposes. Materials: Brass lamp pieces, garlic press, bicycle brake parts, film editing machine parts, boat motor parts, erector set chain and sprockets and aluminum fly wheels.

Other Works 

By Nemo Gould

Carl Pisaturo

Carl Pisaturo can currently be found productively working as an applications engineer at Standford University. His true passion, though, is maintaining his live exhibit in San Francisco known as Area 2881, named after its address. His goal is to create a very service living environment completely out of kinetic sculptures. 

Pisaturo's most proud work is his Slave Zero series, which are half human scale robotics figures that have twenty one servo actuators and forty two degrees of movable range freedom. The series was designed and built by Pisaturo in 1997 and finishing the complete series in 1998. His partner through the series, Frank Garvey, helped construct the finely sculpted body panels of each of the individual robots in the series. Slave Zero and a mate are intertwining the boundaries between sculpture, dance and theater, while broadening the language and interpretation of each.


The two machines in the series have the basic human range of motion in their arms, wrist, neck and jaw. Each individual hand had a total of eight linked joints which are controlled by two separate servos. The torso of the robots are also able to turn side to side with 180 degrees of motion. Pisaturo has spent a great deal of time and effort making these machines seem so human like. They are extremely smooth in their range of motion, which really helps with his concept and interpretation of dance and theater.
 
I really liked Pisaturo's work because it is so incredibly complex, even though he describes it as fun work. Gould's perspective really ties into Pisaturo's work in the way that he explains something to be fascinating when you don't really know it. Pisaturo is not fully aware of  how fascinating his work is and that simple fact makes it so much better because he does  not ramble on about the fact that his work is so unique and fantastic.

The Slave Zero series of robots have twenty one servos driving forty one joints with thin cables and an electronic control system which allows several widely spaced robots to be controlled by a team of operators.

Other Works 

By Carl Pisaturo

Nemo Gould and Carl Pisaturo have both mastered the art in making detailed machines. Both Gould and Pisaturo start from scratch when making their art. Both claim to use all found materials which are usually different types of metal for the main structures in their work. They also both claim to have the mind of a child which is seen through the way their work presents itself in a lively and playful manner that evokes the audience to interaction with the art in order to take in the full experience. They both also spend a great deal of their time playing with their machines during and after they are created.


While both create very intricate, science-fiction themed machines, there are differences between the two that make them stand out as their own unique pieces. Gould pieces are often very smooth and delicate looking and are often to categorized into more of the Fine Art category, as they are often seemed to be very decorative. On the other hand, Pisaturo's work is much more rigid and precise. Everything has a place and a certain action it is supposed to perform.


Often displayed on stands, Gould's work requires a human to physically operate the individual moving pieces for them to become interactive. Pisaturo is completely opposite in the fact that his machines require a very skilled team of multiple engineers to operate all the different movement that his robots can perform. His robots can even perform human-like tasks, such as picking up a wine glass.