About Offshoot & Couplet

The original intent of Offshoot and Couplet was to create a shift in Bruch’s work to focus on thought and reflection. He also wanted to speak about how language relates to consumer culture, and the differentiation between overindulgence and realistic use of material objects as well as careful, constructive ways of using language versus language as gibberish. We can either use our words carefully or in a spew, and we can choose to buy things only when necessary, or be constant consumers of unnecessary objects. He wanted the viewer to feel a sense of uncertainty between the two, which he cultivated in the organic use of shape and form that creates multiple objects in relation to one another. Tension is also an aspect of the piece, as the line between the objects interacts with them in a way that suggests a changing relationship between the two.

About Cris Bruch

Cris Bruch is a Seattle based artist born in Sugarcreek, Missouri who deals mostly with concepts of consumer culture. According to Bruch’s biography, “In the 1980’s Bruch’s work was often performance driven, and focused on issues of deep concern to him, the imbalance and aggression latent in American consumer culture and its pervasive impact on homelessness and economic disparity, and a wish to bridge the gap between art from its audience.” He made his most iconic work in 1985, titled “Attention Shoppers”. The piece was composed of a shopping cart covered in black steel, which spoke about death and consumerism. He also worked with performance driven art, in which he addressed social issues in America that were of concern to him. Today, the art piece created by Bruch, Offshoot and Couplet, sits in the communications building at Western Washington University, while other pieces from Bruch are in museums around the country. Cris Bruch has a long resume of his art pieces featured in museums and galleries around the United States.

Historical Events Surrounding this Artwork

During this piece’s creation was a time where the new art form, grunge, came into play to create a cultural explosion in the United States. Also, this piece was made in Seattle, where grunge was at the time prominently embedded in the city. George H.W. Bush was president and the world had just become familiar with the rise of the Internet and the expansion of social connectivity. Bruch’s work was influenced by the grunge of the 90’s era of art, and being near Seattle, where grunge was becoming more popular. The transgressive art movement greatly influenced this piece, as it deceives the eye by appearing to be consisting of innocent, childlike forms, but actually has a deeper and darker underlying meaning. The creation of the World Wide Web sparked a rise in consumerism because it allowed for products to be available at the click of a button. This contributed to Bruch’s frustration with the culture of buying for the sake of buying. His creation of work that has both an intricate and recycled feel to it combats the ideas of quick, cost efficient production using non renewable materials.

Our Plan of Action

For our project we plan on creating a picture that depicts the sculpture Offshoot & Couplet in a comedic scenario that provides visual context for our collective reaction to the piece. As a group we feel our strength is in digital media manipulation, so we want to represent the sculpture using this practice.

References used in this Blog post

Frye Art Museum, www.fryemuseum.org

WordPress for WWU. Edited by Katherine Griffin

Alamy, www.alamy.com

Vitaloverdose, www.vitaloverdose.deviantart.com

Authors

Lia Henriksen

Connor Stewart

Nainoa Gerard