Ken Reker

My assembled sculpture consists of discarded objects and castaway materials found in streets, alleys and on the shoreline. Many of the materials that I collect for these constructions are chosen for their deformities and irregularities that occur through decay and use. I am drawn to an object’s strangely exotic appearance after it has been abandoned. The dirt, rust, scars, and damages that trace its’ former life embody a sense of time and history. Objects are intuitively chosen for their unexplained qualities of mystery and aesthetic beauty and often for their ability to evoke personal memories and recollections. The transformations involve combining and, in some cases, repairing these objects. The scavenged souvenirs are arranged and rearranged to mingle personal meaning, symbolic interpretation and the familiar understanding of banal objects. The sculptural forms that result, externalize my cynicism, empathy, and hope. They embody the uncertainty of any human effort. These poetic objects of reclamation and repair stimulate my continual urge to tinker with reality. “If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” Leonard Cohen