Michael Hoffner
Artist Bio
It was clear early on that my life’s work should somehow place me in the context of drawings and making. My father was an aerospace engineer who dabbled in art, so I grew up with this as a familiar condition. There were always drawings, models and renderings, as well as art supplies at our house. My earliest memories are making drawings of things that I wanted to build. It was inevitable that I would become an artist or architect. It’s been possible to do both, luckily. Indeed, my specific interest is to blur the distinction between the two practices I love.
Because of my training and experience, I am attracted to site specific projects. I have an urge to make sense of context and use materials according to their nature. Not everyone recognizes these things as opportunities or constraints.
And what if studying the conditions of a site provided clues to how a project or work should take form? What can we learn by layering information about history, site, narratives and stakeholders? Is this already suggestive of an activity? Does it provide encouragement along a path? Could it offer a heightened spatial understanding, the gift of an enriched experience?
Artist Work
Title: Movement
Category: Visual Arts
Genre: Sculpture
Description: "Movement" is a functional art installation that aims to increase awareness about an impressive yet underappreciated Oklahoma City Civil Rights leader, James E. Stewart. We raised additional funds to enhance project research, hiring a graduate student from the neighborhood and publishing the first Wikipedia article about Mr. Stewart.
Title: Sunflowers
Category: Visual Arts
Genre: Mural
Description: The human scaled work offers an aesthetic experience similar to a chance encounter with another being. Informative details separate the roles of the parts - neatly crafted channels stuffed with crumpled sheet metal bring clarity to disorder. The rich patina of "Sunflowers" signals that it is comfortable out in the elements.
Title:spiruul
Category: Visual Arts
Genre: Sculpture; Curatorial; Design; Installation/Site Specific
Description: “Spiruul” is part of the exhibition, “RENEGADES: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture.” Spiruul’s geometry recalls Goff’s seminal Bavinger House and Herb Greene’s Prairie House, enlarging shingles to plywood panel scale. Simultaneously an example of “resourcefulness,” a gallery, the object also guides people through the surrounding exhibits.
Location
73118