Photo credit: Alex Clausen
prototype
2007
Alex Clausen
“My primary interest in making work is testing and exploring the relationship that exists between a space, its contents, and its inhabitants. Most of my recent work has been an investigation of peoples’ homes. As a guest in their home, a dynamic is built between the inhabitant and myself, much of which is based on hidden or unspoken details. Social rules, expectations, assumptions, histories, and anxieties build the initial framework of this interaction. The resulting painted photographs of temporary sculptures are meant to speak to these social relationships.

“My strongest impression from the Exploratorium is the idea of the prototype. It’s a place that functions as a creator of new educational modes and learning apparatus. This piece utilizes the physical parts and space of the Exploratorium as well as actual exhibit materials, creating a new form of prototype.”

About the artist
Alex Clausen , a Bay Area native, lives and works in San Francisco. He received an MFA in Drawing and Painting in 2006 from California College of the Arts. He graduated from UC Davis in 2000 with a BA in Physics and Art. Alex is currently working at the Headlands Center for the Arts as an MFA Studio Awardee. His work is part of the de Young Museum collection, and has been shown locally at the Hardwarestore Gallery, Spanganga Gallery, and Rena Bransten Gallery. His work has also been shown at Works/San Jose and the Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

Go to http://www.alexclausen.com to learn more.