Let's say that you're a painter but you begin to dabble in photography.  Not fine photography, at least at first, just using a point and click digital camera, what do you think you'd do with the photographs?  What if you took 3000 photographs with a common theme, what would you do with them?  Why you'd create an installation piece of art.  That's exactly what Mike McClung did in his installation "Watch your Step" at the Arvada Center for the Arts.

What I like about this installation is it's cohesive feeling.  The installation consists of 1632 photographs hung on the wall in a unique configuration with a creative hanging method.  The installation creates terrific shadows on the wall adding to the complexity of the piece.   In the gallery where the installation is hung are individual photographs, framed, hung in groups of four with the same theme as the installation..."Sidewalks".  These works are larger and you can follow the theme as you move along the wall viewing these framed pieces.

Let's take the idea one step further.  Above the wall of 1632 photographs is a shelf with shoes.  Not just any shoes, all of his shoes (and he's got a lot of shoes).  On this shelf he's lined up the right shoe of each pair so the shadows would all be the same.  The shoes really punctuate the idea of sidewalks since shoes come in contact with the sidewalk.

Aside from the complete package hung in the gallery I thought his dedication to learning is great.  He shared with the audience that he visits 25-30 major museums a year and over 100 galleries a year.  Travel has been a huge asset to his artistic education while he worked for a marketing firm.  Now his days are spent creating art and looking for the next opportunity to create a cohesive body of work.

Keep on walkin'...
Greg

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