Doctor TJ Eckelberg installed at ActiveSite IV in
conjunction with the 21st International Sculpture Conference, Grand Rapids, MI, October 2008
Thousands of pieces of paper vellum, folded and sewn
Doctor TJ Eckelberg presents the viewer a visual array that can be
taken at the base level as pure eye candy. Upon further investigation and pulling from the title's reference to the "Great
Gatsby" the viewer may start to build relationships between the role of the Eckelberg adverts in the novel and what is presented.
The human concept that we are not alone has played out through nearly every culture to ever exist. The idea that "god is watching"
has very different ideas associated with it and can be both unsettling and comforting. Using the form of the triangle, often
associated with the "eye of god," I present a simple pattern that connotes a cloud form. Like a cloud the piece may seem to
have a highly organic, fluid sense to it but it also has a dominant, underlying crystalline structure. This theme of structure
within perceived chaos is yet another way people have chosen to perceive the divine.
