Artist Statement
The Tools of Engagement Series explores the impulses of the American male youth, who in his boredom finds destruction as an outlet for creation. I create my work by manipulating and altering found objects to extrapolate and decontextualize their former associations within culture. There is a sharp tension between the form and content of these objects that act as a critique of American middle class culture.
There is eeriness in the air when traveling through a cookie cutter, cul de sac neighborhood in suburban America. The feeling is a suffocating monotony that residents must be immune to or somehow embrace. The phrase ‘cul de sac,’ an old French hunting term, translates as “bottom of the sack.” It originally involved snaring rabbits, keeping them in the dark and restricting their movement.
I intend my work to raise awareness of the potential consequences of a culture driven by excessive sameness. The resulting work serves to illuminate the mind of the viewer by causing self-examination and critique.
Zachary Friedline
zfriedline@gmail.com