Perpetual Inventory: A Ruminative Installation by Scott Kip

Arcadia Exhibitions is pleased to announce the presentation of a new project by Philadelphia-based artist Scott Kip. Advancing his work both as a sculptor and a producer of installations, Kip’s project will occupy the 1100-square foot space of the Spruance Art Gallery—originally an electric power station (constructed in 1894)—and capitalize on its utilitarian architecture, including its 33-ft. height. Built primarily from repurposed wood, the installation’s unconventional spaces, linked by corridors and stairs, will allow visual access to a sequence of chamber-like enclosures displaying tableaus of objects from the five decades of Kip’s life. Kip likens the experience to that of walking through the door of an abandoned building found ajar in which, as he has stated, “the anxiety of trespass is pitted against the urge to explore.”  

Kip’s practice has been informed by skills gained working as a cabinet maker, machinist, and clockmaker, including his 18 years as a restoration woodworker and technician for the five-story Wanamaker Grand Court Organ as well as his work maintaining the Philadelphia City Hall Tower clock. These vocations have given Kip intimate access to idiosyncratic, non-public spaces that have helped cultivate the tone and tenor of his work.

Construction on Kip’s project, which was conceived as both a residency and installation, began the first week of June and will proceed on site through the end of August.

The project is curated by Richard Torchia and supported by a grant from Edna W. Andrade Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Scott Kip attended University of the Arts (1995-1999) where he majored in Craft/Furniture Making. He began to exhibit in 2008, initially focusing on his Illuminated Structures, model-like sculptures installed in precise alignment, which became the subject of his 2010 Wind Challenge exhibition for the Fleisher Art Memorial. Subsequent development of these works led to his first solo exhibition at Marginal Utility, followed by a solo exhibition at Delaware Contemporary (2014). His first installation, Transitional Objects, (Marginal Utility, 2015), was followed by a more compact, portable variation, The Enchanted Hunter (Penn State Abington Art Gallery, 2018). Kip’s work has been enthusiastically reviewed in Title Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Art Papers,One Review a Month, and on multiple occasions in Artblog, where he received a Liberta Award (2015) for Transitional Objects. Kip was in residence with the Asian Arts Initiative in 2014 and has facilitated projects related to clock mechanics and mechanical music at Temple Contemporary, Drexel University Art Gallery (Bower Bird Productions), along with longstanding affiliations with the Wanamaker Organ, The Mutter Museum, and the City Hall clock, and the Masonic Temple. From 2011 to 2015 he taught in the sculpture department at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.