"The Haines gallery held an exhibit in an abandoned Western Union office.  Artists were allowed to use existing discarded artifacts from the site.  I set up an office environment with a receptionists desk. (A receptionist would sit at it during the exhibit ).  A new wall was constructed right through the furniture and equipment, dividing  it in two .  It had a dreamlike quality , as if the typewriters and desks were melting into the wall.

I was trying to address the transient nature of business today , make the site feel as if everyone moved on in a hurry and left everything behind. Years later we had the dot com exodus in San Francisco. When I was younger it seemed as if buildings and businesses lasted forever. They were landmarks giving one a sense of comfort.  They  gave you a bearing and some history to keep inside you. . Your father worked at a place and his before him etc...today these structures seem more malleable , fragile, unstable, forever being changed or replaced.  It's often unsettling."  Wayne Zebzda 1992

 

Review by Kenneth Baker SF Chronical.

 

2016 thoughts:

One thing that sticks out in my mind is the opening reception by the Haines Gallery.

A good friend was leaning against my installation with arm outstretched and he said...

"where is your installation?"

It was so obvious yet invisible in it's simplicity.