Garrison Roots' work

Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program

March 5-6 Symposium: Challenging the Public Art Paradign

Though his works are labored with meticulous detail on a vast scale, Roots' work is emotionally charged and personal. Speaking about his work, critic and art historian Erika Doss said, "The storytelling impulse expressly defines Roots' artwork, especially the installations that he has created over the past twenty years. Stories about growing up in Texas, about his father dying from emphysema, about dropping out of school and leaving home at fifteen, about working blue collar jobs, going to college, getting married, having a child, getting divorced — these constitute the central motifs of Roots' art. And while they are intensely personal, they are also the common stories of our lives and our identities."

At right: Dallas Convention Center Terrazzo floor detail

Detail of a mosaic in the image of a spider

Inviting viewer interaction, Roots' installations present a compendium of allegorical information, complexly layered to solicit the viewer's participation and understanding. While the sources for his work are personal, the elaborately constructed pieces become their own environment, a complete system understood to include "the unique activation of each viewer." The message is not didactic; rather his work presents a pull between the private and public processes of identity. His interest lies in moments where, "past and present, the collection and recollection of experience as memory and memory as experience constantly collided in revelations and concealments, disclosures and displacements."

About his work, Roots further says, "I have chosen to work as an environmental/installation artist because I am convinced it is not unlike how we deal with many environmental situations in our everyday lives, both as a society and as individuals."

Photo of a room with bamboo walls with red shirts hanging on them and writing on the floor, which also has rocks covering some of the words.
"So You Think You Would Do It Differently Next Time" | Mixed media

His site-specific installation, "So You Think You Would Do It Differently Next Time" (SPACES, Cleveland, Ohio, 1991) is built upon a stage-like platform. The walls are constructed of lengths of wood spilling from ceiling to floor like the arc of a waterfall. Small rocks strewn over the floor partially cover a text beneath – a story of the artist as a child and the death of his father. Multiple red robes and gold painted bottles are precisely spaced along the wall. Roots describes the, "erosion of personal and family history by generic corporate commodifications." The artist, however, remains resolute that simple representation is limited and possibly impossible to achieve. Figured in the distance between "then" and "now" Roots' work is the attempt not only to understand one's past, but to understand as well the disturbing process of simultaneously growing into and away from a culture.

Roots' projects are not limited to installations. He is also known for his public works. Recent public commissions include projects at the Memphis / Shelby County Public Library in collaboration with Brad and Diana Goldberg (1997- 2002), several projects at the Miami International Airport (1995 – 2001), the Dallas Convention Center (1992-94) and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (1996). On what interests Roots about public art, he says, "what is seen of public art is usually only the tip of the collaboration between artists, community groups, civic planners, and architects."

At right: "Venus"

Photo of a wooden megaphone, resting in a stand

In 2002, Roots edited a survey book of public art titled, Designing the World's Greatest PUBLIC ART, (Images, 2002). Of his book, Roots says, "A wealth of public art exists, particularly in the United States…each artist and each program are considered to be among the world's best. This book showcases the artists whose efforts and disposition were able to rise above the often confused debates over public art to produce work that firmly deserves to be called art in public places." The book features works by artists such as Terry Allen, Joan Llaveria Arasa, Winifred Lutz and Jody Pinto and includes selections from several public art programs such as the Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, the Phoenix Arts Commission and the San Jose Public Art Program.

While the book highlights successful public art projects, in his comments Roots remains critical about the methodology and results of much contemporary public art production. "I find it interesting that in spite of the inherent politics of any public process, healthy art is produced…good work is designed and created despite limitations being placed on it from its inception. It seems increasingly difficult to offer art for public consumption for fear of someone finding it offensive," says Roots. "I suppose the Airstream trailer was my first experience of American public art. After all, it accomplishes in a practical way, just about everything I have ever heard anyone want from a public artwork. It is visually stunning, an American icon, historically based, made of durable material, requires little maintenance, is somewhat inexpensive, and does not offend the political, religious or moral sensibilities of too many people."

Photo of a cone-shaped structure, made of a straw or bamboo material.
"Six of One; Half Dozen of Another" | Detail

This ongoing debate will continue during his residency as Roots will host a symposium on the subject scheduled for March 5-6 2004. The symposium will be presented with the additional partnership of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, which will host the symposium as one of the last events in the main gallery before the space closes for demolition. The symposium, titled "Madison Project: Challenging the Public Art Paradigm," will investigate what public art can be and how it is or is not representative of today's cultural conditions. It will bring challenging and critically necessary dialogues to the forefront through a series of panel discussions and public addresses about art in the public sphere. The symposium is planned to have a mix of national, regional and local artists, curators, and public arts professionals as speakers and panelists. Confirmed participants include intermedia artist Jessica Irish, critic and writer Patricia Phillips, visual and performance-theater artist William Pope.L, public artist Jack Mackie, and Milwaukee based artist Jill Sebastian. The participants will come together to discuss issues that are deeply relevant to the production of contemporary art in our times.

In addition to hosting the symposium, Roots will teach a seminar course titled "Public Art: From Statues to the Internet." This course will concentrate on challenging the very ideals of public art as put forth by the many art in public places programs across the country. It will provide students with a radically new and challenging perspective on what public art is, can be and whether it is or is not representative of today's cultural conditions. In fact, it will challenge current cultural norms within the public art world while at the same time redefine how public art programs could better serve both their artists and public constituents. His residency promises to be a provocative and engaging experience for all involved.

–David Norr, Artist
Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison