Artist's Statement

There is something curious about recognizing a normally unnoticed thing suddenly positioned to be gazed upon, doted on with uncharted affections. Usually managed with skilled efficiency in any place of dutiful work, this venerable beauty is the classic paper folder, (not to be confused with the icon of the folder on your desktop!) Yes, these are real, live paper folders, not the abstract promise of Cloud storage. These bright, physically tangible, manufactured folders are attached to larger, handmade tagboard folders that maintain a consistent size—to be counted on, while holding their own on the wall.

Here is a complete set of eight. Four wear a white apron, and the other half go for the brown, to show off their consistent waist line (width of the folder) as if to signal (without ever saying out loud:) look how much I can accommodate! Their purpose and capacity to hold important information is validated by maintaining the attention of an audience.

Each of the folder constructions, (FC) for short, comprises their own logic, with the impossibility of performing their original purpose: to hold and file information inside their covers. In reverse of function, information is secured superficially ON TOP of the FC’s--held with tender, analog bindings of decorative staples, proud hole punches and frivolous strings. The result is a satisfying snack mix of old and new information. Meant to be consumed by the inescapable gaze from the outside, this attention is both longed for and loathed simultaneously. Savory screenshots combine with sweet drawings hastily marked-up with checks and circles of approval--or is it just a mode of checking inventory? Counting what is available and what is already taken?

Undeniably sleek and uniform in their shape, the folders’ utility is one of many characteristics that make them beautiful, with the slightly curved top to position a label, a name, or abbreviation. It’s like a nickname so that people know what it contains and what to call it. The basic materials of the FCs are not unique; just some common materials and tools found in any office or places where tasks are getting done. The words and abbreviated phrases written on the folders are equally ordinary in conversation: “OKOKOK,” “Work,” “No Big Deal (NBD).” The materials and the words can be easily overlooked and take on a casual invisibility in the day-to-day use, the Monday-Friday work week, the standard 9 to 5 of a work day. Systems built on top of systems, like folders on top of folders, can define and validate existence. Each one has its own language of signaling, attracting and messaging that can be seen or missed. The structure of standardized routines and patterns offer answers and directions that satiate existential discomfort. Enough time passes and these routines manifest into “the way things are,” at which point the distinction of the system and one's role and consent in it, is blurred. To summarize: The to do checklist stapled on the folder looks like: Work(check) Makes Sense?(check) Looks Good(check) Good Job?(check) Get It Done(check) and Begin Again(check)