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Blaise Tobia
Sculpture Collaborations
1985-91
In 1985, I began collaborative works with two sculptors.
In Philadelphia, I worked with Dan Loewenstein, who was doing large scale sculptures based on casting construction materials like brick and concrete block. We collaborated on photo shoots in his studio and then I documented his exhibition and performances at the Painted Bride. Finally, we collaboratively created a series of sculptures that incorporated his material-mimetic techniques and my photographs. The images in these works came from my series "Fortifications," made in Detroit in 1981-83.
In New York, I worked with Harold Olejarz. Initially, I documented his wood-module figurative sculptures, but we soon developed a collaboration based on his sculptural performances. Harold fabricated - and wore - the sculptures and I worked to create photographs that created the illusion that they were actually installed in a variety of museum spaces. Our first - and most audacious - performance involved his self-installation in the 1985 Whitney Biennial. Later performances in NYC and Philadelphia involved silicone-coated suits and masks and as many as five performers.