Feb 10, 2026
Critique Reflection
Question Prompts:
What clear decisions were made?
- Modern architecture aesthetics
-Mechanics
-Disorienting Space
-Reflection as focal point
Where does this piece hesitate?
- Making adjustments to the cardboard
-No scaled door
-Perspective for reference
What are some next steps or decisions?
-View points
-Hallway display consideration
PUA Completion 75%
Artist Statement
Brock Tamlin
Feb 10, 2026
For this project, I chose a five gallon bucket as my gallery space. The initial intention for this installation considered the context of the bucket for the piece, but failed to consider scale for this small world installation. Reconsidering scale and the cylindrical space of the chosen gallery, I referenced the work of Sarah Sze and Yayoi Kusama. Much of their work is maximalist in their approach, allowing their installation to fill the rooms, spaces and galleries they occupy. Taking inspiration from Yayoi Kusama’s work of infinity room, this miniature installation intends to position the view and visitors in a space that is visually distorted through the use of reflective material.
This distorienting space utilizes the inherent space of the room, corrugated cardboard, privacy mirrors, adhesive and hot glue to construct the installation. The cardboard serves both as the structural element of this piece in addition to its visual characteristics. Much of the structural elements are inspired by the cylindrical shape of the space, connecting the installation to the space. The mirrors fragment and visually multiply the visual experience of the gallery space. The reflected surfaces when directed towards one and other created depth and a shifted sense of scale. The round walls allow the mirrored material to follow the curved shape. This changes the reflection as a viewer would usually experience their reflection.
The viewer is situated out of the scale and context of the space, observing the space from perspective above. Conceptually, the installation would be inhabited by its viewer through hidden gallery entrances at the ground floor of the space. The installation was designed in a way that makes the piece removable. This allows the viewer multiple perspectives to help imagine themselves viewing from within the gallery space.
This installation shifts the object and space of the bucket from a utilitarian use to something entirely different. The viewing experience could be imagined to be intimate and isolating while within the gallery installation. In this case, the viewer rather than walking within the space, views from the exterior of the piece, initiating an imagined experience of this gallery space.
Process Photos
Ideation and Design Sketches
Small World Installation
- Why did you select your specific found object as a gallery space?
- What did you learned from the artist you studied?
- How does your work activate an already-existing space?
- How scale (miniature) alters meaning, intimacy, power, or perception?
- What kind of “entry” the viewer experiences (visual, psychological, conceptual, sensory)?
Blog Week 1
What changed this week
This week I decided to work with a water trough for my found object for the small-scale installation project.
The scale of this installation object is larger than I initially was thinking about working with, but I think my plan to utilize some simplified 2D painted or printed figures, the larger scale will not be too much of an issue.
This installation will use the interior space of the object to convey most of the concept for the piece. The object is being used in a similar context as it is intended so the special considerations are less involved with transforming it into something else, than it is about utilizing its objective understanding to create a scene through special designed imagery.
The concept relies on the audience to understand what the found object is used for but offers some humor with the perspective of the horse. When the audience views the piece, they will also be included in the image alongsidethe perspective figures.
A specific decision
I have been thinking about trying to make a piece like this for a while now so it made sense to experiment with this concept with audience feedback and critique.
A spatial observation
The interior space is functioning from the perspective of the piece. The viewer investigates the reflective basin to see the horse and their own reflection within the piece.
Where the viewer’s eye/body goes
The separation of the reflection and the water level might be challenging to read like I am envisioning in my head, so in this apsect of the piece feels unresolved or awkward.
Connection to the referenced artist
One concrete way their thinking is informing the work
This piece puts the view within the piece and places them in the image of a horse drinking out of a trough of water.
Or one way the student is intentionally diverging
I am only trying to create one image in this installation rather than an accumulation of a series of images.
As you continue developing this project, it’s important that your blog reflects the current state of your work. If you’ve shifted from the water trough to using a bucket, that change needs to be documented and explained in your next post.
Design changes are completely expected in this course, but the blog is where you track those decisions. Make sure to clearly note what changed, why you made the change, and how it affects the scale, spatial experience, and viewer interaction of the piece.
Moving forward, treat the blog as a working record of your process rather than a polished statement. Keeping it up to date will help me give you more useful feedback and will strengthen your thinking around the project.
One important clarification: this project is a miniature installation, meaning the interior of the object should function as a room rather than simply a container or viewing surface.
Right now, your idea is focused more on image and reflection than on constructing a space the viewer can read as inhabitable, even at a small scale. The shift to a bucket could work, but only if the inside is intentionally treated as an environment with spatial cues such as walls, floor, ceiling, or architectural details that suggest a room.
As you move forward, think less about placing a single image inside the object and more about how the viewer enters, looks into, and understands the interior as a space. What makes this feel like a room rather than a vessel?
This doesn’t require complexity, but it does require clear spatial thinking. Use scale, orientation, and structure to communicate that the viewer is looking into an environment, not just at a surface.
Be sure to document this shift and how you’re addressing the interior as a room in your next blog post.
Brock-
ReplyDeleteI apologize for not commenting earlier. I think this idea sounds interesting, but I am having a difficult time picturing what you are building. Is there any way you could do a sketch to give everyone a better representation of what you are trying to communicate?
- Keeley