Why would anyone want to spray bullets into an aluminum boat, upend railroad ties on the Wallkill rail trail, a.k.a map and locator for the Hudson, or bend a boat in half, transforming it into a likeness of the great white shark?
Smack in the middle of my notes, taken during an hour or so of hanging out with Michael Asbill at his recently purchased Ukranian Camp in Accord, NY, is an unfamiliar name: John Wesley Powell. Turns out he is a famous explorer who led a 1000 mile expedition through uncharted canyons, convinced: …that water, or the lack of it, would be a major and ongoing problem in America's westward expansion….(he) wanted to organize settlements around water and watersheds, which would force water users to conserve the scarce resource because overuse or pollution would hurt everyone in the watershed.
Now I wonder? Did Pete Seeger (songwriter, folk singer. political activist and founder of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater in 1966 ) know about Powell, Wyoming, where the community practices cooperative water use so that farmers have control in watershed protection? One of Pete’s famous quips:
I like to say I'm more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.
Michael’s work guides me, gently, to stories about Courage. It is a boat ride through America and ends up in our glorious Hudson River, the murky fish filled Kansas streams, coastal waters of Australia, South Africa, California etc as if we are seeing for the first time who and what America is. (Not to mention what it feels like to hold a real shark’s tooth.)
So back to spraying bullets in the boat. I suppose it could be an act of valor – shooting at the “bad”, or let’s try intense anger, or could it be extreme caring - putting ailing social practices to sleep, forever, to rebuild with a little more forethought? Michael Asbill grew up in Utah and Idaho. He learns technique on his own. (like John Wesley Powell, who studied botany, zoology and geology without the benefits of teachers.) Rather than organizing boat journeys (Powell) as a way to get to truth, or singing/ composing (Seeger) his way to justice, Michael’s approach is solid 21st century, leaning into digital and software, “playing around in Photoshop” purchasing artifacts on e-bay, collecting stuff (history), reluctantly ridding his property of lead paint crackle and other traces of strangely wonder-ful decadence. Having acquired skills and knowledge, Michael embarks on his own rescue mission, blending history, technical and design concepts into large scale artworks pleading for sustainable living and all matters of resource conservation (water comes up a lot in his work, for example a model of an aggregate of black trumpet mushrooms with mechanism to produce the sound of intermittent drips, rather than flow, of water…) but claims that the “driving force is making work I like – beautiful and mysterious…. (I want to) keep you (him and us) thinking.”
I’m risking diversion (and therefore losing you) to comment on the absurdity of calculating value in art, generally, through a story about an unknown Japanese artist, who’s fee for an ink painting (of a fish) seemed high to this collector and begs explanation. The artist opens the door of a closet when an outpouring of thousands of drawings, and years of work spill onto the floor. And then, I might add, like in Michael’s case, the generations of living, cultural histories, accumulated information, not only personal, but stories handed down through literature, family gatherings, coffee houses and such, ought to count for something, as well. Despite the amount of time, mysteriously inflated auction values, , there is something else, and it looms, beyond the bucolic fields in Accord, where public artwork and studio work finds its way (through commissions and purchases) into the landscape and homes of collectors. This is a value where boundaries don’t exist. It’s the work, taking you by the hand, rescuing you from your own (assumed) limitations and taking you to new discovery.
Like Kansas, for example. Just inside the door of Michael’s studio out in the fields of no where, is a large and exquisitely rendered charcoal drawing, entitled Big Crappie.(pronounced kray-pi and is prolific, overpopulated and can, but usually doesn’t, live to 15 years) He calls it “homage to my grandfather” – an eerily oversized, not so happy looking specimen apparently favored by his grandfather, who took up fishing after his retirement in Kansas. It seems this artist really doesn’t want to forget his grandfather, or this species of fish, or keeping our (beautiful) rivers flowing, or mid western history overall. Nor does he want us to forget. His art work challenges greed and wrong turns vis-avis environmental sustainability. I wonder if the archetypal hero (see Joseph Campbell Hero With A Thousand Faces) factors into his work: the grandfather, Powell, Seeger, and more - all forerunners to Michael’s own journey.. (One which is taking him on a more and more focused path in creating his work, and less teaching and developing remarkable art programs in Woodstock, NY)
For some artists, titles are important. Sitting on a centralized table in his studio is a sculpted model - a compelling arrangement of happy pink gums brandishing fossilized sharks teeth, designed as an “insert” in a plastic toy boat. bent at about a 40 degree angle. It is called Carcharoden Nostimos. Oh no, another research project for me. . Interestingly, Carcharoden Carcharias, main character in Jaws, the largest known predatory fish has replaceable teeth, meaning if they break off, well no big deal, because they grow back with new ones. And, they rotate on their own axis. And they are serrated. And, C.I.T.E.S. has them on the endangered species list. Expecting the second part of his title, Nostimos , to represent something exotic or at least natural, I learned that it is a web browser that speaks (not so naturally) and is animated. Just outside of Michael’s studio, is the full scale work in progress, the (actual) boat is bent and I get to see how he, seamlessly, is about to construct the inner mouth with dozens of teeth he will cast from fossilized ones purchased on E-bay.( I’m guessing Nostimos is his browser. )
This is what Michael has to say about both his studio/ gallery work and his public art works: At the end of the day, to maintain some equilibrium, I find it necessary to make both types…for me it is about solving problems, finding (creating) elegant ways to express oneself. You can see for yourself, this summer in various group exhibitions billed to include Asbill’s work: the Kingston Biennial, Clinton Historical Society, G.A.S,(acronym for Gallery and Studio) a new cutting edge contemporary multi media gallery and performance space in Poughkeepsie. Collaborative Concepts outdoor exhibition in Garrison and our own Ellenville 10x10x10 Storefront Exhibition. His permanent public artworks are at the Poughkeepsie Train Station, Windows on Poughkeepsie, composed of lenticular prints (an image that shows depth or motion that changes with the viewing angle) and in Gardiner along the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, Rail Ties.
Michael Asbill received his MFA from Univ. of CA in San Diego, is a board member of “Walkway Over the Hudson”, the education curator for Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, teaches and curates and has received numerous grants and awards.
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