Artist Wrenn Scrapworm

Wrenn Scrapworm

About

Born in Bowling Green, KY, 1980.
Living/working in East Williamsburg Industrial Park, Brooklyn, NY since 2001. I work under the pseudonym scrapworm as part of the philosophy that guides my work (wrenn is my surname). I'm interested in patterns in the landscape and image media that reveal themes of the human predicament in the non-empirically explainable multiverse and ever complexly constructed culture. Currently I'm exploring collective imaginations of apocalyptic destruction and annihilation.

Within the allegorical identity, scrapworm, I collect scraps to create narrative contexts and abstracted patterns that respond to my ontological questions. I gather examples from the world document (of which I experience the landscapes, societies, and artifacts) as visual fragments that seem tragically ironic, beautifully balanced, sadly empty, terrifyingly inundating, or (especially in found print materials) absurdly propagandized. I intersperse these scraps in a range of scales to articulate cartographic ground-shifting networks within decay aesthetics.

I associatively express my impressions of interrelationships through collage and assemblage, trying techniques and approaches to themes in various or combined mediums. I experiment with photocopying/scanning original and appropriated photographs, wet paper adhering, editing video, and designing digital projects - also making small prints, drawings, paintings, and sculptures toward remnant combinations as filtered by my sense of reality and time. I work with objects and space as topographies built through repeating archetypal shape variations.

I manipulate Xerox, found objects, and timed reactions (exposure to fire or water) to evoke distressed survival in installations and studies, materially referencing the mechanical production capacities that shape contemporary comprehension of authenticity and distribution (including the macro-scale production of press images and machine parts, consumer relationships to photography, and reliance on appliances). I pursue presenting projects within the urban landscape (site-specific video projection, postering, and windows) for public/architectural contextualization.

My projects imagine future wastelands of the American Dream that foreshadow themselves by investigating subtle determinants. Currently, I'm considering the reverberations of the Atomic Bomb Age as insight to contemporary conditions, using research-acquired materials that express threat and/or panic through belief system-defining representations of human experience and historical events. LIFE being but one of my various sources, I study/use published images and words to enhance my understanding of influences on 20th Century opinions of progress, efficiency, survival, and authoritarian fear/faith dynamics from a psychological perspective within the influences of apocalypse culture.

Critically, I see my work a mutation of influences resulting in technocratic expressionism by combining post-apocalyptic scatter, grunge photomontage, and renegade/subterranean constructivist inspirations. My art making reflects my philosophical concerns and the information age in history via suspended metaphoric maps. I "paint" with information, tears like drips. My work is rooted in exploring cultural meta-language, the infinite nature of the universe, and collective memory.
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Website: http://www.scrapworm.info

Education

Education
2002 Bachelor of Science, cum laude
New York University, Steinhardt School of Education, Studio Art

2008 Master of Fine Arts
Maryland Institute College of Art, Mount Royal School of Art

One Person Shows

2006

land of make believe and associated braneworlds // Chashama at 208 W37th St., NY, NY // January 27 - February 26

life: fear, small works and prints // Life Caf 983, Brooklyn, NY // January 7 - 28

2005

on the way // 234 W. 42nd St. Chashama Window Exhibit (installation), NY, NY // February 10 - April 26

2004

vertical flotation // ArtLand Bar, Brooklyn, NY // April 10 - May 15

visions of excess: visions of void // TIXE (A Chashama Space), NY, NY // January 6 - February 27

Group Shows

2007

A Vague Spatial Area // MICA, Fox 3 Gallery // October 19 - 30

Uncomfortable Landscapes // Primo Piano LivinGallery, Lecce, Italy // October 15 - 31

Apocalypse WOW // ProArts Jersey City Anchor Show, Canco Lofts // September 21 - October 22

The Memory of Water & Fire: A Celebration of the Elemental // ProArts Jersey City Anchor Show,

Canco Lofts // September 21 - October 22

Noumenon // The 500 Gallery, Baltimore, MD // September 21 - October 19

NeoIntegrity // Derek Eller Gallery, NY, NY // July 19 - August 24

Ceci n'est pas a Booth, Kiosk or Gazebo and Other Radical Shacks // Artscape, Baltimore, MD // July 19 - 22

Visions of Conflict: Rendering Dissent // Gormley Gallery, College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD // July 14 - August 4

NOW: 1st year thesis // MICA, Pinkard Gallery, Baltimore, MD // March 30 - April 8

Figment of Speech // WestNorth Studio Gallery, Baltimore, MD // February 15 - March 2

2006

Wandering: Psychogeographical Explorations of Space and Place // MICA, Station Gallery,

Baltimore, MD // November 29 - Dec 15

History and Identity // Primo Piano LivinGallery, Lecce, Italy // November 19 - December 7

(which is kind of interesting) // Mount Royal School of Art, MICA Fox 3 Gallery, Baltimore, MD // November 1 - 12

Genius and Madness // Primo Piano LivinGallery, Lecce, Italy // October 15 - 31

Montrose Caf // Brooklyn, NY // March 31 - July 30

2005

The Square Foot Show // Art Gotham, NY, NY // October 1 - 3

BWAC: Anniversary Show, Earth Show, & Fall Art Show // Pier 8, Brooklyn, NY // May 7 - October 22

Flights of Fantasy // Bottom Feeders Studio Gallery, NY, NY // July 1 - August 27

1800 Frames: 1 Minute Video Festival // City Without Walls, Newark, NJ // June 1 - 2

The Artists-in-Residence of 40 Worth-a.k.a. "I Made This" // Chashama @ 217 E. 42nd St., NY // February 2 - 28

2004

Collaboration 1, Chashama at Creative Artists Network // The Center For Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia, PA // November 1 - 7

BWAC, The Water Show, and The Solo Show // Pier 8, Brooklyn, NY // July 17 - November 7

The Baby's Bathwater // Asterisk Young Artist Project, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY // May 9 - 20

2003

It Is Itself // TIXE (A Chashama Space), NY, NY // August 19 - September 7

BOX 30- Get Lucky With an Emerging Artist // HERE Art Center, NY, NY // July - August 16

Peace Williamsburg: Art of Resistance // OfficeOps, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY // May 25

PostNeoIntegrity: Burnt to a Crisp // Asterisk Young Artist Project, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY // May 10 - 12

2002

NeoIntegrity: This Land is Your Land // Kosher Pickle Warehouse, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY // July 4

NeoIntegrity: This is Your Dinner // American Fine Arts, NY, NY // May 12

Collective Solipsism (in Permanent Vacation Series), Rosenberg Gallery, NYU, NY, NY // April 24

Artists Projects

2007

Mini Curated Micro-Books // Baltimore Book Festival, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts Magazine Stand // September 28 - 30 ('radical freedom: beyond xibalba' artist book)

Endwise // Current Gallery // Baltimore, MD // August 4-September 8 (performative presentation & discussion group)

The Bucolic Wonderland, with Anti Social Music // Greenwich House Music School, NY, NY // May12 (performance environment)

Yella Evar After // MICA Interactive Media Project, Baltimore, MD // May 5 (wiki site)

The Showcase // Load of Fun, Baltimore, MD // March (performative presentation)

2006

The Climax of the Octopus, with Anti Social Music // Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY // December 2 (performance environment)

Brooklyn Peace Fair, with Anti-Social Music // Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY // October 22 (video projection)

LDC Garden Art Project // New York Restoration Project, 900 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY // May August (organization, construction, posters, visual art)

Art is [not] dead // Matchless, Brooklyn, NY // May 20 (video projection)

Art is [not] dead // Launch Party, Capones, Brooklyn, NY // April 11 (video projection)

April 2, 2006 // Janusz Jaworski and scrapworm // March - April (performative collaborative exploration and photo adventure)

Malcolm Rollick // scaffolds, solo album and CD release Party // Brooklyn, NY // February (original art work and digital formatting), March 25 (show art)

Antisocial Music: Hits the Medium Time // Merkin Hall, NY, NY // February 23 (stage sculptures)

Local Correspondents: an evening of scrapworm video // Matchless, Brooklyn, NY // January 18 (shorts program and ambient music accompaniment)

2005

Antisocial Music: Does not sing the American Songbook, CD release event // Chashama at 217 E. 42nd St., NY, NY // December 10 (stage/window installation)

Bushwick Art Projects // McKibben St. between Bushwick Ave. and White St., Brooklyn, NY // November 12 (4 hour public/architectural video projection)

Emerging Artists International (EAI), City Wide Open Studios // scrapworm studio, Brooklyn, NY // October 22 23 (on studio tour, conversations)

Brooklyn Peace Fair, Museum of Community Arts // YWCA of Brooklyn, NY // October 22 (tabling, sculptures)

Antisocial Music, His Name Is ASM Premieres Show! // La Tea at the Clemente Soto Velez Center, NY, NY // September 17 (stage installation)

Red Orange Morning // Matchless, Brooklyn, NY // September 8 (1 hour video art projection)

Coney Island Dreamland Artists Clubhouse // Surf Ave., Brooklyn, NY // June-July (Greetings from Dreamland: Postal Art series donation)

Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord // all the pretty ponies, live album // January (original art work and digital formatting)

2004

Resolve 40, Chashama at 40 Worth Street // NY, NY // December 11 (exhibition and open studios installation/event)

d.u.m.b.o. Art Under the Bridge Festival, Simultaneous Projections, Passunder // Washington & York St., Brooklyn, NY // October 15 16 (public/architectural video projection)

Chashama Artists in Residence // 40 Worth St., NY, NY // July 16 - 18 // (exhibition and open studios installation/event)

40 degrees north, group:self show, (Art as an environmental moment collaborative show and performances) // Kosher Pickle Warehouse, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY // July 10 (art, graphic identity, programming, and curatorial)

Patience Ripening for Lather: The Babys Bathwater (with Kiera Nagle and Jimi Marr) // Passerby at Gavin Browns Enterprise, NY, NY // June 25 (art, graphic identity, organization)

Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord // 11 x14 poster prints for alt-jazz bands promotion, series of 4, edition of 300 // June (original art work and digital formatting)

God in a Girl // Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn, NY (March 12-13) and WOW Caf Theater, NY, NY (May 6 - 29) (performance sets, props, and video with Kiera Nagle, design partner)

2003

Maiden America Benefit Show // Williamsburg Publik House, Brooklyn, NY // June 27 (venue as installation)

2002

NeoIntegrity: This Land is Your Land (Art as an environmental moment collaborative show and performances) // Kosher Pickle Warehouse, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY // July 4 (art, graphics, organization, programming, and curatorial)

Awards, Recognition:
2007, MayDedalus Foundation (Robert Motherwell) Nominee - for MFA Fellowship in Painting in Sculpture
2006, FallMount Royal Graduate Fellowship - 2 year, highest award for an incoming MFA student
2002, MayThe Arch Award - Commendation for unique and beneficial cumulative service record, NYU
2002, MayPresidents Service Award - For Leadership, in the Undergraduate Student Art Organization, NYU
2002, May Founders Day Award - New York University, Academic Honors
2001, May Alumnae Club Scholarship - Excellence in Academics and Community Participation/Service
2000 - 2001 Deans Research Travel Colloquium Seminar and Travel Research - Teaching and Learning in Senegal
1999 - 2000 University Scholars Seminar - Metropolis: People, Places and Things
1999 - 2000 Travel Research in Morocco - Sacred Geometrical Patterns in Art & Architecture, Morocco, Photography
1998 - 2002University Scholars Scholarship - Honors Enrichment Program, Steinhardt School of Education, NYU

Publications
Resolve 40, Testing the Physical Limits, Copying and Collage. By Mark Stone, February 2005.
Artworld Digest, Seed Issue, 2007, p. 39.
Baltimore Examiner, War gets the artists' touch. By Jessica Novak, Jul 14, 2007.
Baltimore Sun, Critical Eye: Artscape show has creative appetites. By Glenn McNatt, July 15, 2007.
Baltimore Sun, Saying their piece about fighters, war: Artists' expressions of conflict aren't presented in the exhibit as black
or white. By Glenn McNatt, July 25, 2007.
Spray Graphic Though Provoking Culture Artist Interview, http://www.sprayblog.net/spraygraphic-interviews-scrapworm/
Matt Krise and Chuck B, August 13, 2007.

Artists Residencies
2005, July Artists Enclave at I-Park, July 5 - 30 (studio tours and talks)
2005, MayOra Lerman Charitable Trust - Soaring Gardens Artists Retreat, May 7 June 4
2004, MayChashama, 40 Worth Street, Visual Artists in Residence, May - Feb 2005

Registries/Communities
Artists Space, Irving Sandler Artists File, now online, http://afonline.artistsspace.org/view_artist.php?aid=3350
Art Process, http://www.artprocess.com/portfolio?artist_id=459&fname=(WRENN)&lname=SCRAPWORM
Art Remains, http://scrapworm.artremains.com/Home/Galleries/ViewAll/Default.aspx
BRIC, Rotunda Gallery, Artist Registry, 33 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11201
Brooklyn Arts Council, http://www.brooklynartscouncil.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=artist.detail&id=20671&ts=07132006224305
My Artspace, www.myartspace.com, search scrapworm
NURTUREart, 910 Grand St., Ground Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Saatchi, Your Gallery, http://www.saatchigallery.com/yourgallery/artist/details.php?id=1958

Content Websites
www.risebeyondxibalba.info (concept site)
www.scrapworm.wetpaint.com (interactive wiki)

Artist Websites
www.myspiderheart.com
www.scrapworm.info

Artists Projects
2007Mini Curated Micro-Books // Baltimore Book Festival, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Aerts
Magazine Stand // September 28 - 30 ('radical freedom: beyond xibalba' artist book)
Endwise // Current Gallery // Baltimore, MD // August 4-September 8 (performative presentation &
discussion group)
The Bucolic Wonderland, with Anti Social Music // Greenwich House Music School, NY, NY // May
12 (performance environment)
Yella Evar After // MICA Interactive Media Project, Baltimore, MD // May 5 (wiki site)
The Showcase // Load of Fun, Baltimore, MD // March 23 (performative presentation)
2006The Climax of the Octopus, with Anti Social Music // Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY //
December 2 (performance environment)
Brooklyn Peace Fair, with Anti-Social Music // Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY // October 22
(video projection)
LDC Garden Art Project // New York Restoration Project, 900 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY // May
August (organization, construction, posters, visual art)
Art is [not] dead // Matchless, Brooklyn, NY // May 20 (video projection)
Art is [not] dead // Launch Party, Capones, Brooklyn, NY // April 11 (video projection)
April 2, 2006 // Janusz Jaworski and scrapworm // March - April (performative collaborative exploration
and photo adventure)
Malcolm Rollick // scaffolds, solo album and CD release Party // Brooklyn, NY // February (original
art work and digital formatting), March 25 (show art)
Antisocial Music: Hits the Medium Time // Merkin Hall, NY, NY // February 23 (stage sculptures) Local Correspondents: an evening of scrapworm video // Matchless, Brooklyn, NY // January 18
(shorts program and ambient music accompaniment)
2005Antisocial Music: Does not sing the American Songbook, CD release event // Chashama at 217 E.
42nd St., NY, NY // December 10 (stage/window installation)
Bushwick Art Projects // McKibben St. between Bushwick Ave. and White St., Brooklyn, NY //
November 12 (4 hour public/architectural video projection)
Emerging Artists International (EAI), City Wide Open Studios // scrapworm studio, Brooklyn, NY //
October 22 23 (on studio tour, conversations)
Brooklyn Peace Fair, Museum of Community Arts // YWCA of Brooklyn, NY // October 22 (tabling, sculptures)
Antisocial Music, His Name Is ASM Premieres Show! // La Tea at the Clemente Soto Velez Center,
NY, NY // September 17 (stage installation)
Red Orange Morning // Matchless, Brooklyn, NY // September 8 (1 hour video art projection)
Coney Island Dreamland Artists Clubhouse // Surf Ave., Brooklyn, NY // June-July (Greetings from
Dreamland: Postal Art series donation)
Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord // all the pretty ponies, live album // January (original art work and
digital formatting)
2004Resolve 40, Chashama at 40 Worth Street // NY, NY // December 11 (exhibition and open studios
installation/event)
d.u.m.b.o. Art Under the Bridge Festival, Simultaneous Projections, Passunder // Washington &
York St., Brooklyn, NY // October 15 16 (public/architectural video projection)
Chashama Artists in Residence // 40 Worth St., NY, NY // July 16 - 18 // (exhibition and open studios
installation/event)
40 degrees north, group:self show, (Art as an environmental moment collaborative show and
performances) // Kosher Pickle Warehouse, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY // July 10 (art,
graphic identity, programming, and curatorial)
Patience Ripening for Lather: The Babys Bathwater (with Kiera Nagle and Jimi Marr) // Passerby
at Gavin Browns Enterprise, NY, NY // June 25 (art, graphic identity, organization)
Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord // 11 x14 poster prints for alt-jazz bands promotion, series of 4,
edition of 300 // June (original art work and digital formatting)
God in a Girl // Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn, NY (March 12-13) and WOW Caf Theater,
NY, NY (May 6 - 29) (performance sets, props, and video with Kiera Nagle, design partner)
2003Maiden America Benefit Show // Williamsburg Publik House, Brooklyn, NY // June 27 (venue as installation)
2002NeoIntegrity: This Land is Your Land (Art as an environmental moment collaborative show and
performances) // Kosher Pickle Warehouse, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY // July 4 (art,
graphics, organization, programming, and curatorial)

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