Brower Propulsion Laboratory



Perpetual Motion Machine: The History Of The Industrial Revolution Explained By Way Of A Dyspeptic Metaphor, 2000 For an exhibition that traveled around the UK, I made this device. A plywood bookshelf surmounted by a mechanical model that was intended to interact with viewers and metaphorically display a historical mechanism whereby products are created in the UK, consumed and changed in the US, and re - exported to the UK. The head resembles a collapsed Roman Colossus, which provides a landscape and historical context for a working model of the first steam driven mine pump. On one side of the head/cliff, an aperture is opened and inside one can see a large hamburger. On the other side of the head sits an outsized Gillette Mach 3 disposable shaver. Hanging by cords from the back of the head is a Coke can split in two. From a miniature culvert in the mouth, a wire issues and is strung throughout the museum. The wire terminates in a switch that is connected to the cash register in the museum gift shop. When a purchase is made, the work is activated. The model mine pump begins to reciprocate, in opposition to the motion of the razor. Simultaneously, the patty of the hamburger, which is in fact a custom made record, begins to turn. A miniature land rover enters the hamburger through a bite in the bun. Audio is heard from the split Coke can in the back. The recording details scenarios concerning the period between the beginning and the end of the Industrial Revolution (represented by the steam pump and the razor(the technology for the blades of which was developed in the same region as the pump)). It ends with the playing of
Perpetual Motion Machine: The History Of The Industrial Revolution Explained By Way Of A Dyspeptic Metaphor, 2000

For an exhibition that traveled around the UK, I made this device. A plywood bookshelf surmounted by a mechanical model that was intended to interact with viewers and metaphorically display a historical mechanism whereby products are created in the UK, consumed and changed in the US, and re - exported to the UK. The head resembles a collapsed Roman Colossus, which provides a landscape and historical context for a working model of the first steam driven mine pump. On one side of the head/cliff, an aperture is opened and inside one can see a large hamburger. On the other side of the head sits an outsized Gillette Mach 3 disposable shaver. Hanging by cords from the back of the head is a Coke can split in two. From a miniature culvert in the mouth, a wire issues and is strung throughout the museum. The wire terminates in a switch that is connected to the cash register in the museum gift shop. When a purchase is made, the work is activated. The model mine pump begins to reciprocate, in opposition to the motion of the razor. Simultaneously, the patty of the hamburger, which is in fact a custom made record, begins to turn. A miniature land rover enters the hamburger through a bite in the bun. Audio is heard from the split Coke can in the back. The recording details scenarios concerning the period between the beginning and the end of the Industrial Revolution (represented by the steam pump and the razor(the technology for the blades of which was developed in the same region as the pump)). It ends with the playing of "Koka Kola" by The Clash, which is about the equivalence of advertising with drug abuse, among other things. At the end of the record, everything stops and waits for another patron. This thing is very pre - computer for me so all the systems are analog and mechanical. It required a lot of tuning, and in view of that, I produced fake books (on the shelves below the head) the titles of which reflect some of the themes touched on in the recording, which are, ultimately the themes of the production of the artwork itself (titles include 'The History of Plywood','The History Of The Word 'Yeah' in music', and 'Making Your Own Personal Hygiene Products', etc.
Perpetual Motion Machine: The History Of The Industrial Revolution Explained By Way Of A Dyspeptic Metaphor, 2000 Dyspeptic Metaphor, 2000 For an exhibition that traveled around the UK, I made this device. A plywood bookshelf surmounted by a mechanical model that was intended to interact with viewers and metaphorically display a historical mechanism whereby products are created in the UK, consumed and changed in the US, and re - exported to the UK. The head resembles a collapsed Roman Colossus, which provides a landscape and historical context for a working model of the first steam driven mine pump. On one side of the head/cliff, an aperture is opened and inside one can see a large hamburger. On the other side of the head sits an outsized Gillette Mach 3 disposable shaver. Hanging by cords from the back of the head is a Coke can split in two. From a miniature culvert in the mouth, a wire issues and is strung throughout the museum. The wire terminates in a switch that is connected to the cash register in the museum gift shop. When a purchase is made, the work is activated. The model mine pump begins to reciprocate, in opposition to the motion of the razor. Simultaneously, the patty of the hamburger, which is in fact a custom made record, begins to turn. A miniature land rover enters the hamburger through a bite in the bun. Audio is heard from the split Coke can in the back. The recording details scenarios concerning the period between the beginning and the end of the Industrial Revolution (represented by the steam pump and the razor(the technology for the blades of which was developed in the same region as the pump)). It ends with the playing of
Perpetual Motion Machine: The History Of The Industrial Revolution Explained By Way Of A Dyspeptic Metaphor, 2000
Dyspeptic Metaphor, 2000

For an exhibition that traveled around the UK, I made this device. A plywood bookshelf surmounted by a mechanical model that was intended to interact with viewers and metaphorically display a historical mechanism whereby products are created in the UK, consumed and changed in the US, and re - exported to the UK. The head resembles a collapsed Roman Colossus, which provides a landscape and historical context for a working model of the first steam driven mine pump. On one side of the head/cliff, an aperture is opened and inside one can see a large hamburger. On the other side of the head sits an outsized Gillette Mach 3 disposable shaver. Hanging by cords from the back of the head is a Coke can split in two. From a miniature culvert in the mouth, a wire issues and is strung throughout the museum. The wire terminates in a switch that is connected to the cash register in the museum gift shop. When a purchase is made, the work is activated. The model mine pump begins to reciprocate, in opposition to the motion of the razor. Simultaneously, the patty of the hamburger, which is in fact a custom made record, begins to turn. A miniature land rover enters the hamburger through a bite in the bun. Audio is heard from the split Coke can in the back. The recording details scenarios concerning the period between the beginning and the end of the Industrial Revolution (represented by the steam pump and the razor(the technology for the blades of which was developed in the same region as the pump)). It ends with the playing of "Koka Kola" by The Clash, which is about the equivalence of advertising with drug abuse, among other things. At the end of the record, everything stops and waits for another patron. This thing is very pre - computer for me so all the systems are analog and mechanical. It required a lot of tuning, and in view of that, I produced fake books (on the shelves below the head) the titles of which reflect some of the themes touched on in the recording, which are, ultimately the themes of the production of the artwork itself (titles include 'The History of Plywood','The History Of The Word 'Yeah' in music', and 'Making Your Own Personal Hygiene Products', etc.
Steve Brower Action Figger 1999-2000 plastic, wood, metal, paint each, 16 X 8 X 3
Steve Brower Action Figger 1999-2000
plastic, wood, metal, paint
each, 16 X 8 X 3"
Back when I made this, it was a clever idea to make an 'inaction figure', or a heroic didactic tool that represented a shlub. Its not even cool to be self-deprecating any more. I also made accessories to represent all the jobs I never had because I chose to be an artist (doctor, lawyer, astronaut, fireman, cubicle warmer)
You Are What You Eat 1995 plastic, paper 6 X 30 X 15
You Are What You Eat 1995
plastic, paper
6 X 30 X 15"
Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House made of Domino's Pizza boxes. The creator of Domino's, a failed student of architecture, after becoming wealthy enough, set about accumulating all the Wrightania he could, and eventually produced protocols on the preservation of the grumpy architects extant work. The desire to become someone else achieved through the consumption of lots of pizza.
Concept Art for Beyond Good And Evil 2001 acrylic and gouache on paper mounted on board 30 X 42
Concept Art for Beyond Good And Evil
2001 acrylic and gouache on paper mounted on board
30 X 42"

(Made in the spring of 2001)
Proposed theme park that featured a one-guest-at-a-time policy. An individual would be presented with a variety of environments in which he could carry out his 'Omega Man' fantasies. The catch is that the park is associated with a reality TV show which broadcasts the visitor's exploits. Knowing he is 'performing' changes his intentions, and the show becomes a platform for making political statements and the display of various mythologies. The park is sponsored by Mountebank Chemical, which has devised a drug that creates the sensation of having a lot of money.
Beyond Good And Evil Massachussets, Pennsylvania Beyond Good and Evil 2001 plastic, wood, metal, paint 52 X 48 X 48
Beyond Good And Evil
Massachussets, Pennsylvania
Beyond Good and Evil 2001
plastic, wood, metal, paint
52 X 48 X 48"
Detail

(made in the spring of 2001)
Proposed theme park that featured a one-guest-at-a-time policy. An individual would be presented with a variety of environments in which he could carry out his 'Omega Man' fantasies. The catch is that the park is associated with a reality TV show which broadcasts the visitor's exploits. Knowing he is 'performing' changes his intentions, and the show becomes a platform for making political statements and the display of various mythologies. The park is sponsored by Mountebank Chemical, which has devised a drug that creates the sensation of having a lot of money.
Beyond Good And Evil Massachussets, Pennsylvania Beyond Good and Evil 2001 plastic, wood, metal, paint 52 X 48 X 48
Beyond Good And Evil
Massachussets, Pennsylvania
Beyond Good and Evil 2001
plastic, wood, metal, paint
52 X 48 X 48"
Detail

(made in the spring of 2001)
Proposed theme park that featured a one-guest-at-a-time policy. An individual would be presented with a variety of environments in which he could carry out his 'Omega Man' fantasies. The catch is that the park is associated with a reality TV show which broadcasts the visitor's exploits. Knowing he is 'performing' changes his intentions, and the show becomes a platform for making political statements and the display of various mythologies. The park is sponsored by Mountebank Chemical, which has devised a drug that creates the sensation of having a lot of money.
Beyond Good And Evil Massachussets, Pennsylvania Beyond Good and Evil 2001 plastic, wood, metal, paint 52 X 48 X 48
Beyond Good And Evil
Massachussets, Pennsylvania
Beyond Good and Evil 2001
plastic, wood, metal, paint
52 X 48 X 48"

(made in the spring of 2001)
Proposed theme park that featured a one-guest-at-a-time policy. An individual would be presented with a variety of environments in which he could carry out his 'Omega Man' fantasies. The catch is that the park is associated with a reality TV show which broadcasts the visitor's exploits. Knowing he is 'performing' changes his intentions, and the show becomes a platform for making political statements and the display of various mythologies. The park is sponsored by Mountebank Chemical, which has devised a drug that creates the sensation of having a lot of money.
Genealogy, installation view 2000 Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand materials, dims var Exhibition with Michael Stevenson at end of our dual residency at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth. The show drew parallels between our personal artistic development and the rural cultures that influenced our teen years. The central figures of the exhibition were our fathers, who also seemed to have similar artistic development, albiet with inverted results. This picture is a model of my dad's house in West Virgina, made of local New Zealand materials
Genealogy, installation view 2000
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand
materials, dims var
Exhibition with Michael Stevenson at end of our dual residency at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth. The show drew parallels between our personal artistic development and the rural cultures that influenced our teen years. The central figures of the exhibition were our fathers, who also seemed to have similar artistic development, albiet with inverted results. This picture is a model of my dad's house in West Virgina, made of local New Zealand materials
50%LRV 2001 plastic, wood, metal, paint 51 X 56 X 41
50%LRV 2001
plastic, wood, metal, paint
51 X 56 X 41"
Half scale model of the buggy driven around on the moon by Apollo astronauts in the 1970's.
Messiah Complex 1997 plastic, wood, metal, paint 22 X 12 1/2 X 17 1/2
Messiah Complex 1997
plastic, wood, metal, paint
22 X 12 1/2 X 17 1/2"
Geodesic structures of Buckminster Fuller appealed to opposing ideologies. While hippies feverishly assembled thier bulbous communes, the Army was buying and assembling Fuller's domes to house RADAR equipment and troops. Architecturally representing the unity of ultra right and ultra left wing sentiments, this dome depicts an idealistic self sustaining living quarters upstairs, and a bomb making and plot hatching quarters in the basement.
Perpetual Motion Machine 1998 plastic, metal, paint dimensions variable For a one day exhibition in the woods in Cold Spring, New York. May 17 I think it was. I thought this natural setting could use a Wal-Mart. I found the picturesque stream had an adequate head to turn this water wheel which generated electricity for the lights in the shopping center.
Perpetual Motion Machine 1998
plastic, metal, paint
dimensions variable
For a one day exhibition in the woods in Cold Spring, New York. May 17 I think it was. I thought this natural setting could use a Wal-Mart. I found the picturesque stream had an adequate head to turn this water wheel which generated electricity for the lights in the shopping center.
Toolbox Prison, Locked By a Master 1995 plastic, wood, metal, paint 12 X 22 X 10
Toolbox Prison, Locked By a Master 1995
plastic, wood, metal, paint
12 X 22 X 10"
As one becomes devoted to accumulating skills and the means of production, one is increasingly walled off from opportunities passed up. Spending the time to learn how to use a chisel results in knowing how to chisel wood, and not people, as spending that time on a law book might have.
U-Town 1998 plastic, wood, metal, paint 11 X 40 X 25
U-Town 1998
plastic, wood, metal, paint
11 X 40 X 25"
For some reason this is my most published and viewed work. It depicts an 'alternate-future' trailer park in a world where Buckminster Fuller's ideas actually caught on. Everyone would have the same shape to live in and to drive, but they would still want to 'personalize', perhaps even in contradiction of efficiency. One conceit is that there would still be poor people, which is not part of Fuller's plan.
U-Town 1998 plastic, wood, metal, paint 11 X 40 X 25
U-Town 1998
plastic, wood, metal, paint
11 X 40 X 25"
Detail
For some reason this is my most published and viewed work. It depicts an 'alternate-future' trailer park in a world where Buckminster Fuller's ideas actually caught on. Everyone would have the same shape to live in and to drive, but they would still want to 'personalize', perhaps even in contradiction of efficiency. One conceit is that there would still be poor people, which is not part of Fuller's plan.
A World of Kipple 1996 mixed media, dimensions variable A scale model of my future storage facility for a lifetime of accumulated artwork. A several mile long Quonset hut is cut away to reveal a repetitive yet admirable pile of crates. The suggested sky background is also repetitive. Currently this model is in storage...
A World of Kipple 1996
mixed media, dimensions variable
A scale model of my future storage facility for a lifetime of accumulated artwork. A several mile long Quonset hut is cut away to reveal a repetitive yet admirable pile of crates. The suggested sky background is also repetitive. Currently this model is in storage...
Steve Brower Action Figger 1999-2000 plastic, wood, metal, paint each, 16 X 8 X 3

BPL Employee Hobby Pages

A smattering of ideas over time with various degrees of resolution. Many of these items have been presented in 'art' situations. More archives of these tinkerings will be added as they are 'digitized'. Other info at stevenbrower.com the employee's personal interweb viewing site.



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