ALWAYS BETTER WITH OTHERS
Your Story Is Better Than Mine
April, 2013
 
I have been producing work where the final piece is never accomplished. I focus my attention on how things strive to add up to ideas not an idea.  I want their appearance to have the creation of accumulation; I encourage other people to interact with the work by having the situation take the form of games, acts of storytelling or culturally symbolic objects. I want viewers to question their attitudes and understandings of what they believe. I have viewed my objects, working as souvenirs, yet I don’t want them to become purely nostalgic, I want to see how the act of making something doesn’t have to be a recreation of a past but because it’s activated in a performance or production it begins to be a breathing thing. I act primarily on the opportunities I find myself in, situations; the work primarily works from issues of “man’s “connection to nature. When does a story get to be a tall tale, how is a moral born, and if the artist has a desire to consider all that, when and where does it become relevant.
I like to embrace an idea and find that moment where it becomes embarrassed.
I make art for situations where I can share experiences with friends and hopefully make new ones within the activities.  I have found that in art it’s always an event at best. The viewer is there to see something. I aim to give them an experience 
 
Does the act of getting visitors to participate constitute a ritual? How can this act reflect the variables that happen with an accumulation? When does this collecting warrant reflection or understanding?
 
In this show at Gridspace I have filled the namesake’s grid with carvings and found objects. Outside I have activated a locally sourced picnic table. Inside I have presented a series of relief prints made from picnic tables in the area. I am encouraging visitors to relate with the work in how familiar it is, while accepting the role of viewer. If someone happens to bring a knife the table is open for additional marks, or removals.
 
Nathaniel Parsons
www.nathanielparsons.com