Pentax
2006
50x43x35 inches (127x110x90 cm)
Balsa wood
David Ersser produces cold, meticulous models of electrical appliances, tools and domestic objects. Assembled from balsa, the least majestic of woods, in a dead pan and un-dramatic way, the work owes more to the culture of the enthusiast model maker than the great history of carved sculpture.
This, Ersser's first solo show, is the initial realization of an ongoing project that involves the replication of the objects that surround the artist. As such, the artists desk from his studio, his tools, equipment, detritus, chair, keys and his half finished artworks themselves, are all presented in the gallery space, in a one-to-one scale, lifeless tableaux.
Implicit within each object is the user, as a synthesizer' keyboard, a power tool, or even a bonsai tree, all necessitate the existence of a users hand. Erssers facsimiles, however, are removed from circulation. Their use-value removed, they stand in for the real object, inert and impotent mementos. The nerd-ish mode of production also serves to highlight the artists geeky fetishism for the objects, which is only heightened by the removal of function. While the monotone work might appear flawless from a distance, the thin wooden cable running down from the stereo to the floor and to a sculpted plug, is made up of short sections of straight balsa to give the semblance of a curve. Scrutiny reveals the makers hand.
Forthcoming shows include Roebling Hall, NY (solo project) and Lucky Loft, Hamburg (group).