roxy paine carves life-sized airport security checkpoint from wood

roxy paine carves life-sized airport security checkpoint from wood
checkpoint, 2014
maple, aluminum, fluorescent light bulbs, and acrylic prismatic light diffusers
14′ x 26′ – 11” x 18′ – 7 1/2”
courtesy of the artist and marianne boesky gallery, new york © roxy paine / photo by jason wyche

roxy paine: denuded lens
marianne boesky gallery, new york
now through october 18th, 2014

as a union of organic mediums and mechanical systems, american artist roxy paine has meticulously hand carved ‘checkpoint’: a room-sized diorama, which uncannily represents — in complex and painstainking detail — a generic airport security stop. presented at marianne boesky gallery, new york, the large-scale installation comprises soft-hued maple, aluminum and fluorescent light bulbs, with each material translating a portion of the transportation hub’s architectural facets into static and solid matter.

checkpoint, 2014
courtesy of the artist and marianne boesky gallery, new york © roxy paine / photo by jason wyche

rendered through various processes from computer modeling to hand chiseling, the work translates an everyday space into an otherworldly one. a forced perspective skews the landscape, compressing an otherwise 80-foot-room into an 18-foot space. metal parts that make up X-ray scanners and a conveyor belt’s wavy rubber streamers are architecturally frozen in time, a living moment of human experience fixed in place. ‘checkpoint’ offers the opportunity to visually linger and digest a space otherwise only experienced through a rushed physical encounter; a mundane and potentially menacing space becomes a fixed point of quiet contemplation.

checkpoint, 2014
courtesy of the artist and marianne boesky gallery, new york © roxy paine / photo by jason wyche

complementing ‘checkpoint’ — the exhibition’s centerpiece — paine presents examples of his recent maple wood sculptures, which continue his exploration of process, perception and material translation. a series of hybrid industrial contraptions and machine-like objects suggest the modern-day markers of labor, production, consumption and measured control.

soft-hued maple, aluminum and fluorescent light bulbs make up the room-sized diorama
checkpoint (detail)

a conveyor belt’s wavy rubber streamers are architecturally frozen in time
checkpoint (detail)

courtesy of the artist and marianne boesky gallery, new york © roxy paine / photo by jason wyche

a forced perspective compresses an otherwise 80-foot-room into an 18-foot space
courtesy of the artist and marianne boesky gallery, new york © roxy paine / photo by jason wyche

checkpoint (detail)

courtesy of the artist and marianne boesky gallery, new york © roxy paine / photo by jason wyche

[h/t] the two percent

1/8