By Matt McDermott
The Dolan Geiman Art Machine was recently back in action at the James Hotel MIXART event in April. Chicago Living Arts had the opportunity to film the one-of-a-kind Art Machine in action. Pitting Heaven against Hell, folk and outsider against contemporary, fact versus fiction, Art-o-Matic machines or artists as machines, the interactive and playful yet socially conscious Art Machine can be seen here on video.
The Art Machine was first unleashed aboard the Anita Dee II for Bridge Magazine’s Artboat 2003 (Chicago, IL). Built from an assortment of salvaged doors, 3-D mixed media works, silkscreen and acrylic paintings, found objects, and re-envisioned fabric scraps, the Art Machine is built to fit any indoor or outdoor location.
The Art Machine is a portable, booth-like structure with a carnivalesque facade. The four sides of the machine are constructed from wooden doors with collaged wooden and metal adornments. The canopy of the structure consists of a papier-mâché centerpiece, a wooden billboardesque sign and a dome-shaped malleable metal wire that is covered with fabric and cloth. Depending on the location, installation requires approximately 90 minutes; deinstallation approximately 60 minutes. The four sides of the booth each break down into two pieces to accommodate indoor installations and allow the Art Machine parts to fit through standard hallways, doorways, and elevators. After first installing it on the upper deck of a yacht, in the rain, with 45 minutes of installation time, the Art Machine has proven its adaptability and durability in most installation environments.
The idea for the Art Machine first developed one spring evening in Chicago, sitting in the Jewel-Osco parking lot and watching the street cleaning machines suck up the parking lots’ detritus into a non-descript location somewhere inside the metal contraption. Dolan envisioned a similar large, curious structure that would accept the alley’s paper and metal scraps, mill them around, and spit them out as one-of-a-kind collages. Dolan set to work on the collage-bearing device, pulling inspiration for the materials and imagery of the machine from small town carnivals, roadside fruit stands, and Southern revivalists.
Prepared for action, the Art Machine is installed and Dolan Geiman gets inside. The artist is not visible to the patrons and his presence inside the machine is not divulged. A large canister of found objects is set on a small table in front of the machine. Dolan Geiman’s assistant performs a carnival barker monologue and instructs the participants in the following: Choose one to two items from the vault of assorted paper, metal, and wooden scraps and place inside the deposit box located on the side of the Art Machine. The assistant flips the starter switch and asks the participant to breathe deeply and take a big slug of whiskey (or whatever the preferred drink of choice). As pre-determined musical selections blare and the Dolan Geiman assistant performs various song and dance routines, Dolan Geiman wields his collage magic with the selected materials. Several minutes later, the finished collage product descends from the other side of the Art Machine, the next customer steps up, and the process begins again. Each patron leaves with his or her own event-specific, completely unique work of art, packaged and sealed like a selection from a sandwich vending machine.