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James Kennon

Unfunctional

Project Statement

I consider myself to be a very observant person. The joyfulness of everyday objects and the oftentimes unnoticed interactions we have with them is something that I find extremely intriguing and whimsical. As a designer, artist, and maker, I find myself always gravitating towards concepts of the functional and utilitarian. My work explores the psychology of how humans interact with everyday function. Some might consider the modern, mass-manufactured house broom to be pretty boring, but if looked at through the eyes of an odd, object-obsessed maker like myself, there is actually an overwhelming abundance of beauty and complexity underneath. I believe that the modern human has grown disconnected with the physically designed world around them, and therefore some objects and the actions those objects afford have become so quotidian, that they fade away in the background, like a white noise machine passively humming you to sleep.
This listless passivity towards the banal object has created a disconnect from the value of simple tools and their necessity within our lives. So what happens when someone suddenly turns the white noise machine off? The sensation of all of a sudden realizing there was a decently noisy sound happening next to you that you were completely unaware of can be jarring and make you ask yourself, “Has that thing been on this whole time?” Unfunctional is a body of work exploring what happens when the metaphorical white noise machine of everyday objects is turned off and how the human brain reacts to the sudden shift in their perception of what's around them.

Artist Bio

James H. Kennon is a designer, artist, and maker residing in Portland, OR. Somewhere between home object and sculpture, Kennon's work explores ideas of function and the objects we surround ourselves with. This obsession with asking questions of the designed world around us helps in understanding and unpacking the built environment we have created for ourselves and how it positively and negatively affects our psyche.

A sculptural installation featuring a curved green metal rod with a brush, mounted on a wood base, against a light wall.

A wooden ladder-like sculpture with blue-wrapped steps is featured in an art gallery display.

Close-up of a wooden sculpture with blue straps.

Woven piece with wooden strips hung on a wooden hanger on a pale wall.

Close up of a woven art piece with pink and beige fabric strips, white straps, and a wooden frame.

A shirt on a wooden mat, with maroon ropes hanging from a wall-mounted rail.

A close-up of a cream-colored shirt on a wooden platform, hung on a red wire hanger in a gallery corner.

A wooden cabinet with an orange-lit interior on a wooden platform with a light fixture inside, connected by a cord to a wall outlet in a gallery corner.

Art exhibition featuring a wooden ladder-like sculpture with blue bands, a lit wooden box, and other minimalist pieces.

Art installation with wooden structures on a pale cream wall, featuring a horizontal beam, a hanging loom-like piece, and a cloth on a board.