Ryan Trecartin

Close examination of the sculpture Take a Stand reveals a human figure: a head-like ball of wire is suspended from an armature backbone, mounted atop branching limbs clad in track gear. Assembled from a variety of curious everyday materials, the piece was created collaboratively shortly before Ryan Trecartin made his acclaimed full-length 2007 video I-Be Area. Approaching their sculptural process as a director approaches filmmaking, Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch enlist friends, family members, and other artists in the creative process, assigning them tasks but also allowing them to contribute in their own way to the formation of the work. The figure can thus be viewed as a collective self-portrait of a community, reflecting group dynamics and shared creative effort.