BEFORE MIDTERM (One hour cultural event) Michael Velliquette's ''Power Tower" at MAD

When I walked into the “Under the knife” exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design I was intantly drawn towards the “Power Tower”, by Michael Velliquette. The first thing I asked myself is, “What am I looking at.” “The Power Tower” resembled a totem or altar, but crafted in way that made me think of neo-psychedelia. The tower was made from cut paper and cut paper only. The sculpture was full of life. The colors and the way they were cut and assembled created an energy that pushed itself on the viewer. The paper was arranged in a way that made my eyes vibrate. Once I got closer to the sculpture I could see snakes neandring through object along with birds, butterflies, and other unidentifiable cycloptic, almost futuristic animals. The sculpture in itself was full of life.

As I continued to explore I asked myself, “What is the artist saying to me?” This was not an easy answer. I was making associations to different cultures and tribes. I was thinking of the pacific northwest Indians as well as Aztec and Myan mythical symbolism. I was also thinking of 1960’s psychedelia and OP-Art. I kept looking into the sculpture finding more and more little animals hiding, looking at how he had placed paper getting me to look deeper and deeper into the paper sculpure. Velliquette had created so many different images that were placed next to other patterns that I was creating new images that were created by many different singular images. He had combined enough different references that were vague enough to let me continue to make up what I wanted from the piece and by combining those cultural references it made me think about him and his viewpoints as an artist.

This created a dialogue between me and the art. He was giving me insights into viewpoints and symbolism he had set up. I was digesting what he had given me to start thinking about and I was coming to conclusions on my own. Which makes the experience of viewing this piece different for each individual. He had set up a circumstance where the more someone engaged themselves with the piece the more they would get out of it, which is very satisfying. I concluded that he was creating his own form of visual culture using universal symbols. In combining all of the symbolism into one large object he created a universal “ Power Tower.”