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Mike Kelley's Memory Ware series – a diverse group of mixed-media paintings and sculptures made between 2000 and 2010 – exemplifies the thematic engagement with memory that informed the second half of the artist's career... 

Kelley borrowed the phrase “memory ware” from a type of North American folk art in which the surfaces of common household objects – bottles, vases, lamps, and so on – are completely covered with small, decorative keepsakes and personal items. The artist first encountered examples of the genre at a Toronto antiques fair in 2000, where he purchased a memory ware bottle. Given his long­standing interest in repurposing materials with prior histories as well as his ongoing engagement with the aesthetics of craft and folk art, one can easily imagine how he came to envision possibilities – apparently, almost immediately – for developing works that would deploy the memory ware aesthetic, but toward very different ends.

Erwin Wurm (b. 1954, Bruck an der Mur, Styria, Austria) created Hot Dog Bus by transforming a vintage Volkswagen Microbus into an overstuffed, bright yellow food truck that serves free hot dogs to park-goers. This welcoming artwork is intended to be generous and democratic – hot dogs were popularised in the U.S. by immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. The familiar sausage hints at the gastronomic connection between New York City’s most iconic street food and Wurm’s Austrian homeland.

Knowledge is key alongside eye to hand coordination, one must embody distinctive characteristics, the desire of the heart, mind and soul. The essence of the soul, capturing the core of the subject is the essential element, above every other principle of design. Without possessing these embodiments in the creation of an artwork, the person is just going through mindless motion.  The artwork cannot just look beautiful; it must attain meaning an essense of the core. 

Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Van Gogh or Manet did not just manifest a beautiful painting, the allure spoke of a symphony of light, the glory of God’s creations and the life force that resides in all life form.  The artists understood the technical aspect to create a fresh perspective coming from within their beings.  Paris alluring qualities would not have been implied, if the artists would have painted the actual dilapidated scene.  Instead they chose to paint what they saw from within their heart, mind and soul, what it could be or represent.  They took something bleak and created an alluring fantasy, romanticizing its beauty. They seen what it could be, just like a contractor looking at the depleted house on the market and see its potentials. Artists need to develop the eye of an artists. Artist look at its environment with new or fresh insights.