More Than One was a two person gallery show with Danny Saathoff and Kelly Connole.
“More Than One: Excursions Into the Uncanny”
New Work by Danny Saathoff and Kelly Connole
June 6-July 18
Opening reception Saturday, June 20, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Multiples, mechanicals and the magic of the uncanny will animate the Kolman & Pryor Gallery when assemblage and installation artists Danny Saathoff and Kelly Connole populate the gallery with new work. Their exhibition, titled “More Than One: Excursions Into the Uncanny,” runs June 6-July 18, with an opening reception Saturday, June 20, from 7-10 p.m.
“What surprises people about my work is that it moves and that some pieces are interactive,” Saathoff says of his sculptures, which include found objects assembled into enticing mechanisms. “My work is kinetic, often driven by motors but sometimes the viewer is asked to participate by turning a crank or handle, or doing something else to manipulate the piece. That interaction creates a bit of wonder. Even though we’re beyond the mechanized age, people remain in awe of simple mechanisms and their impacts.”
Similarly, adds Connole, “My work is approachable because it includes creatures that are recognizable—rabbits, mice, crows. Perhaps one of these creatures is cute. But put a herd together and the work takes on an ominous quality. Add in characteristics that make them more human, or other seemingly unrelated materials that—through visual language—make sense, and you’re in an exciting, if uncomfortable place between the familiar and the familiar re-contextualized into a thing that’s uncanny.” Groups, herds and flocks—including an installation of suspended zepplin forms—will populate the gallery. Their placement will inspire visitors to migrate from one area to another, in an excursion that will elicit astonishment, discomfort, elation and awe.
