Artist Statement
This work is an amalgam of boyish escapism. “These objects are relics of moments when I feel most calm. When I make them, I exist in physical space, but I am not really any place – I am a child daydreaming” – Mike Stasny BIGOY is a portmanteau using the words “big” and “toy”. I want viewers to discover these pieces in surprising ways all throughout the beltline. Similar to seeing an owl or deer popping out of the wild, these pieces should provoke viewers to point and tell the person next to them, “look at that”. Ideally, observers will walk away feeling a little more childish wonder than they did moments before.
Artist Bio
Mike Stasny is an installation artist, performance artist, and sculptor from the midwest currently working out of Atlanta. He primarily works with raw building materials and broken furniture converting them into “creatures” inspired by natural history museums, sci-fi, and his grandfather – an eccentric taxidermist whom let Mike play in his basement with numerous dead things.