Angle on Ethan Hayes-Chute

The above “(Tree)House of Hyères”, was produced in collaboration with with Jean-Paul Lespagnard and measures only 450x500x650cm.

This is the very first in our series of “Angle on Artists”! I’m so excited. And our first artist we are “Angling On”, is Maine and Berlin based, Ethan Hayes-Chute, who through paintings, sculptures, large-scale installations and artist’s books, explores the ideas of self-sufficiency, self-preservation and self-exclusion as models for living. I am so drawn to the Treehouse above. Although it’s not a toy, I would not be able to keep my hands off it!

“Junkyard”, Wood, Felt, Plastic, Metal, Foam, Rubber, 4″x5″x5″, 2007

In recent years, Hayes-Chute has propelled his work from miniatures of shacks into amazing life size models of self-made abodes. Hayes-Chute envisions the homes as being built slowly over time as materials are hunted and gathered. Each installation is a museum of artifacts- messy, dusty and disorganized. As a visitor, one is meant to feel like Goldilocks, happening upon the home of the Three Bears when they are out. Here is your chance to see how a hermit in the woods might live.

All of the wood, knick-knacks, and furniture for the shacks are found and salvaged. Says Hayes-Chute, “For the structure of these works, I concentrate on harvesting lumber from abandoned woodpiles, dumpsters, construction sites and the basements, garages and barns of friends and family.” The installations are designed to transcend eras and decades – antiques are placed next to modern day objects as though the hermit had just found something new. His recent installations have been displayed in Portland, Norway, Berlin and Maine.

“Hermitage”, Wood, found objects, ≈200x180x160″, 2009