A New Kind Of Living. Sculptural Snow Domes by Nathan Prouty.

Snow Domes by Nathan Prouty

Sculptor Nathan Prouty’s Graduate Thesis Exhibition, A New Kind of Living, encompasses miniature representations of his own life inside custom made snow domes which, according to the artist, attempt to simultaneously hide and expose his own unease with the world around him.

Snow Domes by Nathan Prouty

Installation view A new Kind of Living IIHIH

Installation view2

The 5″ x 3″ x 3″ domes, which are a nod to the knick-knacks and souvenirs one accumulates over a lifetime, spotlight handmade and painted earthenware miniatures that reflect items in the artist’s world. Some contain items representing his lighter side -classic gags such as a hand buzzer, a double-headed nickel, a rubber chicken, a whoopie cushion, a banana peel and a chattering teeth.

globes in studio3

The artist’s darker side is expressed by snow domes containing such miniature handmade and painted items as a wall from Aushewitz, a mushroom cloud, turds and a marijuana bud. In between lies everything from chewing gum to a fire hydrant – even iconic entertainment icons such as Charlie Chaplin’s Cane, Jughead’s Hat and Disney Mouseketeer Ears.

Installation view3

Compartmentalizing individual items and setting them upon a table for display as a group, Prouty has placed his own world inside little worlds we can view one at a time.

nathan prouty snowdome exhibit

Installation view4

hydrant

Below are several pieces from the 2014 installation, A New Kind of Living, shown at the Trisolini Gallery in Athens, Ohio.
Chattering Teeth:
chattering teeth in globe
Hand Buzzer:
hand buzzer globe
Art Turd:
Art Turd globe
Waffle with butter and syrup:
waffle with butter and syrup globe
Dank Nug:
dank nug in snow globe
Charlie Chaplin Cane II:
Chaplin Cane II globe
Jughead Hat:
jughead hat globe
Pile-O-Clams:
pile-o-clams (money) globe
Apollo Capsule:
apollo capsule globe
Mousketeer Ears Hat:
mouseketeer hat globe
Double Headed Coin:
double headed coin globe
Whoopie Cushion II:
whoopie cushion II globe
Bunny Slipper:
bunny slipper globe
Chartreuse Spiral:
green & chartreuse spiral pipe globe
Stack O’ Gum:
stack o gum globe
Banana Peel:
banana peel globe
Gorilla Mask:
paper gorilla mask globe
Moche Pot:
moche pot globe
Rubber Chicken:
rubber chicken snow globe
Auschwitz Death Wall:
Auschwitz Death Wall Globe
Pile of coins:
pile-o-coins globe
Tatlin’s Unfinished Monument:
Tatlin's unfinished monument in globe
Turd:
Turd snow globe

The snowdomes in his studio:
prouty snow globes in studio2

Artist’s statement: The Boy in the Bubble

“I am overwhelmed.

The incessant input of stimulation – ideas, conversations, revelations, objects, sounds, images, and reflections – are often too much to bear. Systems of understanding and history are dragged from one person, one family, one culture, to the next; prejudices, traditions, and values hitched along for the long journey forward in time. We cling to ourselves often to the exclusion of true logic, collective progress, or common sense, resisting anything that even hints at a risk to our sense of self. Distilled from years of cultural memory in all its various forms, the modern human condition is just plain nuts. The accompanying ideas of conflict, angst, optimism, desire, frustration, longing, fury, loss, and potential-but-thwarted humanistic development are my obsessions and baggage.

My current work is an attempt to harness the power and anxiety of these uncertainties from behind a self-defensive position of the dumb and frivolous. Packaged in slick, colorful, concentrated bundles nodding to both the knick-knack and the souvenir, I attempt to both mask and reveal my unease with the world and culture around me from behind a disarming disguise of foolishness. Instantly read as odd, funny, weird, or goofy, I think of my work as the punch line delivered before the set-up. In working backwards towards discovering the actual joke, confusion, uncertainty, and disorientation take hold — if only for a brief instant — and the darker things bubble up and momentarily gain prominence.

Through humor, one is able to linger just a bit longer in what would otherwise be dangerous territory. When wading in these murky waters without such a protective layer, I feel that I have overstayed my welcome. In order to cope, I bundle and combine stuff, associations, and histories into surreptitious tableaus that seek to undermine one’s self-assured understanding of identity and experience. Ultimately, I am a stand-up comedian who doesn’t want the attention.” -Nathan Prouty

About the artist:
Nathan Prouty received his BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and received his MFA from Ohio University in 2014. He has worked in various capacities at galleries both in Boston and Philadelphia, as a miniature model-maker for film, and most recently as a teacher of drawing, ceramics, and sculpture in continuing adult and higher education. Prouty works in ceramics and mixed media, using glitter, glaze, resin, and anything else that fits the bill. He is co-founder of Bandipur Studios and is currently working on its debut line of ceramic housewares.

Nathan Prouty