“John was on the roof wrapping the upper part of the building. Beverly was on the street stuffing little pieces of the plastic wrapping material into little clear plastic ziplock bags. I don't remember the exact denominations but, like, you could buy one for 25 cents but if she signed it then it costs 50 cents. It was a spot-on satire of the biased hierarchy that determines the value of things.” Roberta Chambers FBComment: 11-24-2019
- Title of Event: Upper State Street Building Wrap
- Date: Location: Sept. (?) 1984 Upper State Street, New Haven, Connecticut USA
- Sponsoring Group: The New Haven Environmental Art Works
- Artists Involved: John Landino, Ken Kraus, Tim Feresten, Beverly Richey
Bev Richey: 12/3/2019 Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA What I remember about Packaged plastic: Not much at the moment (maybe more by the time I am done typing).
I have no memory of knowing what I was going to do when i arrived that day. Probably I just showed up with some plastic bags. I had two sizes. one was very small and the other a little larger. I am speaking about the smaller being about 1.5 inches x 4 inches. the other maybe 4x5. neither of these had closure mechanisms. In those days I would use a sticker* type product to seal the bag. this could be a commercially produced one or one I specially produced on the copy machine.
*The stickers I produced were created on a sheet of Avery address labels. then cut down the middle creating a pleasing to myself and it seems others small rectangular size which was fairly easy to peel back. This process develops as does the technology but can be seen though out my body of work.
In this case I used the small day glow dot stickers to seal the bags. I remember the weather being pleasant. Packaging waste or plastic waste in this way was completely consistent with all that I was focusing on at that time. The bags were quite beautiful with a blend of clear plastic, a green transparent plastic and an opaque royal blue. Each of these individual packages was it's own visual environment. The top of the package was folded down and seals with a solid day glow green sticker signed and dated. The small ones were 15cents and the large a quarter.
I do not remember how well they sold, but I do remember I was busy though out the day talking with people about the work. I remember John dropping pieces of plastic for me.. and there being a recognition of us working together.. but again I was focused on the waste from the project and it was beautiful from my standpoint.
I have what remains of these packages in a beautiful purple commercial display unit. Something that pantyhose would have been sold in at a drug store and have continued to protect this from all the various environments. The story is a simple and sweet one. I recall an older man stopping to inquire about making a purchase of one of the bags of waste.. which I referred to as Packaged Plastic. As he held the larger bag in his hand. curious about this street offering for a quarter. He looked me straight in the eye and asked me what did this plastic look like assembled. At that moment I felt a deep sense of sadness. How could I tell this man.. it was not for assembling. How could I share with him my own sense that the work was a kind of statement about hings in packages and landfills and stuff and all that. In my heart and even as I type this today.. I imagine how this could have been assemblable into something recognizable for this man.
I was packaging waste and loving the way it looked and what it meant to me. but that is for another document.
The event wrapped up around around dinner time. We were all invited over to the Kraus's home for dinner and partying. I can still picture Ken and his wife's(?) home on Edgehill Terrace, New Haven. It was a lovely and lively event. After getting something to eat and probably smoke I made my way out to the front porch to continue packaging plastic. I remember it being a beautiful evening and I loved being outside. I was tired from a day on the street and probably over stimulated (plus there was still another day of it) Somehow I think it was on that porch the sculptural form came into being. By the end of day one.. I had a product and now I was in production for the next day.
Michael Kaplan was there that day as was my seven year old daughter Danielle. He recalls a couch installation. Once he mentioned that I began to recall it. Recalling is it’s own new process. submitted by: Bev Richey
BEV RICHEY·TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2019
