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Liz Heller

: The British Butler and The Prostitute 2014, Installation dimensions vary, Collected chandelier and lamps parts, hand painted sign, original madlib pads.

: The British Butler and The Prostitute 2014, Installation dimensions vary, Collected chandelier and lamps parts. Installation of collected lamp and chandelier parts. The formal modernistic aesthetic of this piece is a perverse compliment to the unsavory process behind its creation. Each lamp and chandelier is taken into my studio and completely stripped of its lighting capabilities and dismantled for parts. Each part is then categorized and cataloged to later be connected to a piece originally similar in purpose or function but of completely disparate aesthetic style and finish. The body parts or ‘torso’ of the lamp/chandelier is permanently detached from the arms. This process of deconstruction and taxonometric evaluation leads to a closer look at the technology, language and history of this functional and decorative staple in our everyday lives. The violent act of deconstruction leads to an oddly beautiful and serene act of reconstruction.

: The British Butler and The Prostitute 2014, Installation dimensions vary, Collected chandelier and lamps parts.

: The British Butler and The Prostitute 2014, Installation dimensions vary, Collected chandelier and lamps parts.

: The British Butler and The Prostitute 2014, Installation dimensions vary, Collected chandelier and lamps parts.

: The British Butler and The Prostitute 2014, Installation dimensions vary, Collected chandelier and lamps parts.

: The British Butler and The Prostitute 2014, Installation dimensions vary, Collected chandelier and lamps parts.

: The British Butler and The Prostitute 2014, Installation dimensions vary, Collected chandelier and lamps parts.

: Septahex 2014, 18′ x 6′, Screen print on canvas, found geometric jello molds. The fourth and final iteration of the found geometric jello mold is a halftone pattern communicating illusions of the 3rd-dimension and is paired with the originating 3-dimensional object. The typical 2-dimensional nature of screen printing is challenged both in its pattern as well as the objecthood that is perpetuated in the installation.

: Septahex 2014, 18′ x 6′, Screen print on canvas, found geometric jello molds.

: Septahex 2014, 18′ x 6′, Screen print on canvas, found geometric jello molds.

: Septahex 2014, 18′ x 6′, Screen print on canvas, found geometric jello molds.

: Papercakes 2013, 18' x 9' x 3", Handmade Paper Cast into a Geometric Jello Mold Public installation for the "Second Best Art Award Ever". Contains 200 handmade paper cast into a geometric copper plated cake mold.

: Object Lust 2013, 10" x 10" x 10", Chrome coated porcelain. This is the third iteration of the found geometric jello mold. Here I used the geometric pattern as a symbolic language representational of gendered technology. The language of technology can simultaneously be overtly sexual and subtly graphic, which was my aesthetic aim for this piece.

: Object Lust 2013, 10" x 10" x 10", Chrome coated porcelain.

: Object Lust 2013, 10" x 10" x 10", Chrome coated porcelain.

: I Never Make Definitive Statements 2013, Installation, Ceramic slip casts (300), Ceramic extrusions and found objects. A solo show speaking to my interdisciplinary studio practice. Here I debunked the pejorative notions of artistic success in the form of the singular process, concept, media and/or aesthetic

: I Never Make Definitive Statements 2013, Installation dimensions vary, Porcelain. Objects modeled from a found geometric jello mold exhibiting the carnal impulse to reproduce. This piece was considered to be high craft due to the technical skill required and the cultural connotations of the material.

: I Never Make Definitive Statements 2013, 4′ x 10′ x 2′, Ceramic extrusions of a UPC label. Five ceramic extrusions of a UPC Code. The extruder is considered the lowest of production methods in the ceramics studio, which is what initial drew me to the process. Every niche has its own politics and hierarchy that inevitably influence our taste levels. The representational failure was the objects success. Each extrusion took on a life of its own and as I continued, I manipulated the process to achieve the (initially) unintentional organic form subsequently moving further away from the graphic aesthetic of an actual UPC Label.

: I Never Make Definitive Statements 2013, 4′ x 10′ x 2′, Ceramic extrusions of a UPC label.

: I Never Make Definitive Statements 2013, 4′ x 10′ x 2′, Ceramic extrusions of a UPC label.

: I Never Make Definitive Statements 2013, 4" x 4" 1/4", Laser jet cut steel dye I used the extruder because it is considered to be the lowest form of production in the ceramics world. It explored the tension between high and low technical art making practices.

: I Never Make Definitive Statements 2013, 12′ x 8′ x 2′, Taupe institutional shelving. Solo show investigating the merits of an interdisciplinary practice.

: KitschO 2012, 8′ x 4′ x 6′, Interactive sculpture, wood, acrylic, steel, steel bolts and collected ceramic figurines. KitschO is a handmade ‘Plinko’ board appropriated from the game show ‘The Price is Right’. At the bottom are seven receptacles, five of which contain a fragile figurine instead of a monetary value as on the show. Each participant drops a steel puck down the face of the board for the possibility of smashing a piece of kitsch. If the participant hits a figurine, the broken remnants are swept into a Chinese takeout box, signed by the artist and given to the participant as an art object. If the puck hits an empty receptacle the participant gets an intact figurine as a giveaway prize. Creating this piece through a fine art lens, kitsch is considered a low art, an overly sentimental mass-produced commodity, thus attractive to smash. The cheap mass-produced carryout container is allusive to the kitsch inside it, which is recontextualized as a new art object through the KitschO game. This signed artifact renders the "low" piece of kitsch into "fine" art. In an increasingly digital world, this game is physical, loud, and corporeal. It entices participants with the possibility of visceral satisfaction. The notion of winning and losing is individualized by each participant’s personal view on the place of ceramic figurines in the art world.

: KitschO 2012, 8′ x 4′ x 6′, Interactive sculpture, wood, acrylic, steel, steel bolts and collected ceramic figurines.

: KitschO 2012, 8′ x 4′ x 6′, Interactive sculpture, wood, acrylic, steel, steel bolts and collected ceramic figurines.

: KitschO 2012, 8′ x 4′ x 6′, Interactive sculpture, wood, acrylic, steel, steel bolts and collected ceramic figurines.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: Machismo 2011, 8′ x 12′ x 12′, Interactive installation, wood, found jack hammer bits, mp3 players and headresses.

: A Place for the Time Being Collaboration with 3 fellow graduate students about the transient lifestyle of an emerging artist. The truck was parked downtown in Madison, WI amongst the burgeoning homeless population. The outside of the truck was tied down by sandbags, which provided a visual implication of weightlessness. Inside the truck hundreds of cardboard moving boxes, all belonging to each of the participating artists representing the uncertainty of the future. Vintage filmstrips curated from ebay collections were projected onto the boxes representing the romance and nostalgia of the past.

: A Place for the Time Being 2012, Collaboration with 3 fellow graduate students about the transient lifestyle of an emerging artist.

: A Place for the Time Being 2012, Collaboration with 3 fellow graduate students about the transient lifestyle of an emerging artist.

: House of Cards, House of Cards 2012, Etched Steel, Enamel, Green Felt, Found Furniture, 40" x 24" x 24" Ironically the cards are only etched on one side and the house is attached into one piece, making this piece a house of cards of a house of cards.

: House of Cards, House of Cards 2012, 40" x 24" x 24", Etched Steel, Enamel, Green Felt, Found Furniture

: Regurgitation 2011, 12" diameter, cast glass. My first experiment with glass, a traditional craft medium with pejorative cultural connotations, making it a controversial vehicle for conceptual communications. The final form of vomit seemed appropriate both as a celebration of and commentary about the current hierarchy of glass in the fine art conversation.

: Regurgitation 2011, 12" diameter, cast glass.

: Regurgitation 2011, 12" diameter, cast glass.

: Dough 2010, 10' x 10', Installation of Dough, dish soap and shrimp, Collaboration with two undergraduate classmates. A temporal experiment in materials and temperature.

: Dough 2010, 10' x 10', Installation of Dough, dish soap and shrimp,

: Dough 2010, 10' x 10', Installation of Dough, dish soap and shrimp

: Domestic Armor: Apron 2009, Aluminum chain mail apron, life-size.

: Domestic Armor: Apron 2009, Aluminum chain mail apron, life-size.

: Domestic Armor: Spiky Knuckles, 2011, Cast sterling silver

: Collection Series: Collection of Theft 2010, found automotive glass and resin

: Collection Series: Collection of Theft 2010, found automotive glass and resin

: Collection Series: Collecting Dexter Sinister 2011, vinyl lettering from a Dexter Sinister installation at Gallery 400 in Chicago, IL.

: Collection Series: Collecting Dexter Sinister 2011, vinyl lettering from a Dexter Sinister installation at Gallery 400 in Chicago, IL.

: Collection Series: Clothes Cube 2012, 24" x 24" x 24", Artist's clothes and resin

: Collection Series: Clothes Cube 2012, 24" x 24" x 24", Artist's clothes and resin

: Thank You for the Votive Grandma Jessie 2010, 00:00:36
Cast ceramic peanuts, glass votive, wood, fedex box. My individual life experiences have contributed to the development of a subconscious gender assignment system for everyday things in life, a personal phenomenon some might call synesthesia. I began exploring the relationship between materials and their function with this piece in 2009. This piece consists of 700 ceramic packing peanuts made from a press mold, and video documentation of them destroying a glass votive, given to me by my Grandmother. By changing the physical properties of the object from light, soft and inherently feminine to heavy, hard and masculine, the function was not only negated but was completely opposed. The protector became the destructor.