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The Objectless Objective: Harrell Fletcher’s Art Practice
For artist Harrell Fletcher, community itself it art. Though an object—a public sculpture, another artist’s paintings, documentay photographs from another museum, a rug—are sometimes at the heart of his based art projects, the work itself is always about human relationships and processes of community understanding. This Sunday at I.D.E.A. Space at Colorado College, Colorado College artist-in-residence Fletcher will host “Come Together: Colorado Springs” a open gathering for people to discuss the military with veterans of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan as part of his larger project: “Active Engagement: Learning about the Military in Colorado Springs.” Full details of the event are below along with an interview and slide show featuring Fletcher and his wife Wendy Red Star we did in December about their “Made in India” project which was on dispaly at IDEA Space then.
Wendy Red Star & Harrell Fletcher Interview
Though husband and wife Harrell Fletcher and Wendy Red Star both normally work separately in what could be loosely called community-based documentary art, they teamed up on “Made in India” after they accidentally received two of the exact same rugs as a gift. Rather than sending the rug back to the company, they decided to create an art project out of returning the value of the rug to the person who made it in India. In the process, the two were able to put human faces to interactions that normally remain anonymous and strictly monetary in a capitalist economy.
In the interview above (recorded in December), Fletcher and Red Star talk about their own separate work and the “Made In India” project.
Harrell Fletcher is current at the college working on the Active Engagement Project:
Active Engagement
March 28 — May 13, 2011, IDEA Space
Sunday, March 13, 4:30pm: Sneak Peek Reception & Performance
Active Engagement is a collaborative project between Resident Artist Harrell Fletcher and students in six Colorado College classes in the arts and social sciences. A Professor of Art and Social Practice at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, Harrell Fletcher has worked collaboratively and individually on socially engaged, interdisciplinary art and performance projects for over fifteen years. Through photography, video, dance, and narrative, Active Engagement will reflect Fletcher’s work with students and the broader Colorado Springs community.