Aspen Mays and the Stars

"To find your way among the stars, choose some familiar pattern
as a starting point and gradually work your way from one star
group to another."
Menzel, Donald H. A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1964, p. 104.

Aspen Mays - Jellybean Universe (jellybeans and jar, on a locker) from her exhibit "From the Offices of Scientists" at the Hyde Park Art Center

The work in Aspen Mays' exhibition "From the Offices of Scientists" at the Hyde Park Art Center comes from direct observations she made at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago while presumably making the video, Larry. The pieces in this show (Jellybean Universe seen above) depart from Mays familiar medium of photography. Sculpture, installation, and only one sculpture-like photograph, You're Next populate this show. The pamphlet accompanying the exhibition states,
"By applying creative license to astral discovery, Mays emphasizes those moments where humor, humbleness and big ideas meet and restores the basic sense of wonder the cosmos have instilled in humans since the beginning of time."
-Allison Peters Quinn, Director of Exhibitions, Hyde Park Art Center.

As I organize and write for the two person (me and Erica Moore) exhibition "Polaris" at Ainsworth Gallery in Joliet, IL I can't help but think that Aspen Mays has beat me to my own punchline. In the "Polaris" exhibition Erica and I are focusing on the mystery and draw of space as inspiration, and as a metaphor for creative practice in relation to the above quote from Donald Menzel. I loved this exhibition for its attempt to represent the grand and phenomenological in human terms and its attention to objects and their meanings and I can only hope that Aspen may read this and want to be my friend.

Aspen Mays - Planet Boxes (cardboard document boxes) 2009

I have only a few questions or critiques of Aspen Mays' exhibition: what is up with the dolphins in The Moon and where is the monitor and CPU in Boulder Desk? As well as ask, do these pieces generalize the "scientists" that she observed into a generic form? These things aside I want to say that this is a beautiful show.

Aspen Mays - Boulder Desk (office desk, boulder, cubicle walls, trash can, legal paper, computer keyboard, and carpet) 2010