Bio

Scott Pennington is a Baltimore-based artist specializing in large-scale participatory installation and sculptural assemblage works. Drawing upon his background as a furniture and cabinet-maker, Pennington utilizes woodworking and construction techniques to create colorful, detailed works of art that engage varied audiences and invigorate public spaces. Pennington’s work suggests a tangible, yet illusory reality that examines labor, consumer culture, and the pursuit of simple pleasures, and the construction of nostalgic human connections both genuine and fictitious.

Artist Statement

My work is about creating social spaces with a significant architectural presence. I am primarily a sculptor and installation artist focusing heavily on social interaction and engaging the public through participatory, interactive work often with a performance component. As a builder and fabricator my skills lie in construction of large objects and structures. This often translates into public environments which viewers enter and become an active participant.

I am drawn to the social and evocative nature of public spaces that naturally create opportunities for interaction on different levels not only between the viewer and the art but between the viewers themselves as well. This experience is commonly found in situations like traveling carnivals, amusement parks, playgrounds and public festivals. These are spaces designed to excite and stimulate the senses and also provide visitors with relief and release from their daily life.

My work is also informed by folk art or visionary environments. I see visionary and folk environments as an artist or creative person's pure expression of creativity free from the political or marketing aspects of our world.

http://www.scottpenningtonart.com/