Henry Krusoe lives and works in Los Angeles. Henry received a BFA in Studio Art and Philosophy from Vassar College in 2018 and a MFA Fine Arts degree from Otis College in 2023. Henry joined Angels Gate Cultural Center as a resident artist in 2019 where he still maintains a studio. From 2018 to 2020, Henry served as a board member of the non profit, San Pedro Waterfront Arts District. His work has been shown at Angels Gate Cultural Center, Flux Gallery, Palmer Gallery, NOMAD2, and the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.
Artist Location: San Pedro, CA
Social Media:
PARTICIPATION
Installation:
This Statue Contains a God will simulate an encounter with a trapped magical being, one who when free would be able to create mountains or bring down the moon, but appears before the viewer trapped and powerless within a corporeal form/prison. The statue will look somewhat like a damaged antique Roman statue or bust on a pedestal. It will look like a human torso with white/plaster/stone exterior, but lacking full/undamaged limbs. Its neck will be elongated and stretched to reference an old gramophone speaker and evoke light body horror or demonic entities. Inside the statue I’ll place a speaker which will play a monologue spoken in the voice of the trapped god. The monologue will shift between various moods and motives, transitioning from pleas, accusations, small talk, and cryptic chanting.
soundpedro 2021 participation: N/A
Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2021:
Singing Gargoyle
I would like to construct a gargoyle with a hidden speaker inside. The gargoyle will have a light switch on its belly immediately over the gargoyles flaccid phallus. When switched on, the sculpture will croon an altered soundscape, a love song distorted to have spooky or menacing overtones. The sculpture will sing the same song, in a loop. The playlist could be extended with more soundscapes depending on how many suitable candidate i find following research into music history and the surrounding issues concerning copyright. My target genres are crooning love ballads from the 1950s within the genre of country music or pop classics. I am confidant I will find suitable candidate with either free use or inexpensive creative use copyright status. For reference, my initial vision included a soundscape which sampled Roy Orbison’s cover of “Blue Moon.” The gargoyle’s torso will be cast in plaster from a human mannequin mold while the head will be a hallow cap baring a hand-carved and monstrous visage. Inside will be a speaker, insulated by stone and felt, with an small passage leading from the speaker to the base of the head. The intended effect is to give the the viewer the illusion that the sculpted head itself is singing. Viewers will be encouraged to flip the switch on the sculpture’s torso on and off, awkwardly braving proximity to a sculpted penis to interrupt or resume the sculpture’s singing.
Virtual BreakOut During the OutBreak Videos [VBODOBV] IV
Lets go crazy again
Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2020:
The Singing Urn
I would like to make a jar that sings. I used to be a country music radio DJ and I’m captivated by the power of certain songs. The use of poetry and the human voice to evoke emotions or complex states of mind is an amazing phenomenon that appears in many music genres but my experience and focus is on classic Country and Western songs. There are a few songs that take specific sounds or spoken words as their subject. I would like take one or a few of these songs and (with some modification) create a soundscape or playlist that will comprise the audio for my piece. The main element of my piece will be a plaster pot that will act as a kind of speaker. I plan to fabricate a pedestal with interior shelves to hide a speaker. The speaker will be pointed upward toward the top of the pedestal. A hole in the top of the pedestal that meets a hole in the bottom of the pot will allow sound to be funneled upwards through the plaster pot. The interior of the pedestal will be insulated, which I hope will create the illusion of a singing pot. Some potential songs to incorporate: “The Closing of the Door” by George Jones, “Beautiful Lies” by Jean Shepherd, and “Play, Guitar, Play” by Conway Twitty.
Paseo Del Mar – Gate
Paseo Del Mar-Gate builds on some of Henry’s previous work with projection installations and ambient soundscapes. Using projection mapping software and a projector, Henry maps short videos of people looking out to sea, onto the fabric stretched around one side of a metal portal, creating a luminous surface resembling a multicolored quilt. Recorded sound from the shoreline below Paseo Del Mar, plays the sound of waves crashing.
Henry has noticed that all kinds of people come down to the San Pedro Cliffs below Angel’s Gate to look out to sea and enjoy the beautiful coastline, or perhaps pine for something or someone to return. This piece is his own version of a San Pedro sunset, stitched together with these moments of looking out to sea. This luminous gate will shine, allowing the viewer to experience their own strange moment of looking out to sea amid the sound of crashing waves.