MICHAEL R. FRASSINELLI

Artist’s Statement

         My work has changed in style and substance over the years to include painting and sculpture, masks, works on paper, canvas, and wood; using found objects and motors, feathers and concrete; work that has been welded, carved, sketched, written, videotaped and burned. What remains in all is an interest in the substance and meaning of objects, mechanisms and materials, and an underlying sense of humor.

My recent work centers around sculptures made from old piano parts. While making these objects a story emerged of a fictional tribe known as the Pianistas. The objects function as artifacts from this lost culture that used piano parts for all their basic needs, creating tools, ceremonial objects, masks, musical instruments, shelter, weapons and other items, in much the same way tribes from the Great Plains utilized the buffalo. The original purpose for these objects, how they are described by art historians and anthropologists, and what happened to these objects over the course of history is all part of the storyline, which continues to evolve. The objects, materials and documentation are exhibited in a Natural History Museum format.