2019- 2021
‘-ish’ is largely used for three purposes:
- to form adjectives and nouns that say what country or area a person, thing, or language comes from,
- to form adjectives that say what a person, thing, or action is like,
- to form adjectives to give the meaning to some degree; fairly. ( Cambridge dictionary )
With regard to the third purpose, ’-ish’ is mainly used as an expression to describe something close enough but decisively different and often negative. It can be compared to the similarly used suffix ‘-like’ (ex: childish / childlike, adultish / adult-like). ‘-ish’ can be both ‘almost’ and ‘barely,’ which is contradictory in itself.
Because of this quality, ‘-ish’ can be used in many circumstances and softly evades specificity. I am focusing on this word in order to visualize almost but barely delivered thoughts.
(w)ish, 2019, 41"x 72"x 36", spiral coin toss funnel, ₩10 (Korean penny), motor, wood, metal, trampoline fabric, mesh , Sculpture Space, Utica, NY, US
(burn)ish, 2020, 15” x 20" x 60", glass bowl, magnifying glass, metal, motor, spring, wooden ball,
A glass orb is slowly rubbing against a lens. Inside the orb, there is a wooden ball with a sentence burnt in. The sentence is written backwards and it saids “ish at the end of everything and you’ll always be right”.
(fin)ish in process, 53" x 13" x 4", whistling nerf balls, clamps, iron, motor, Sculpture Space, Utica, NY, US
Spinning, whistling Nerf balls chase each other’s tails, clamped onto various objects. Acting like parasites, they disturb the balance of their hosts.