Miles Younkin

Artist Statement

My current sculptural work focuses on the multiplication and distortion of discarded trash items. Living next-door to an appliance store in NYC, I found myself drawn to the complex and vaguely architectural forms in their discarded styrofoam and cardboard packing materials. Beyond their visual interest, these anthropological fragments captivate me with their potential to lead down endless conceptual pathways, such as temporality, decay and rebirth, the vestiges and tenuousness of human presence.

I create molds of the original objects and manipulate the resulting copies by cutting, dropping, paddling, tearing, or by combining multiples into larger units unrecognizable from the original objects. I then employ glazes that impart a weathered appearance, as well as underfired, dry, rough glazes, which accentuate the objects’ surface texture and emphasize its material transformation.

The resulting forms evoke ancient ruins, brutalist architecture, or artifacts. Many of these pieces are intended to stand on individualized concrete and rebar or steel pedestals, which reference the urban and industrial past-life of the objects, as well as the visually architectural style of the sculptures. The recontextualization of these pieces elevates them literally and figuratively from the trash pile, and creates a dichotomy of ambiguous, but, at the same time, familiar objects.

Ultimately, my work invites viewers to reconsider the nature of aesthetic value and the potential for renewal in even the most commonplace and overlooked materials.