About This Project

Anton Kuehnhackl

Paper Sculpture in Squat, NOT Recommended by CDC!

The original image was shot with a 4×5 view camera. I’d been focusing on the history of the property I’ve lived on since little, a place that was home to religious movements like Hare Krishna…who are largely associated with ‘commune’ style living, and building a sense of home through community. The New Californian Ideology suited a lot of folk in these places, but when faced with the reality of running a huge co-op space, most members quickly gave up. “Paradise” comes at a cost. In reality, the ramshackle ‘homes’ they developed were just full of junk they hoarded, and left for others (me) to clean up. I found the duality of dealing with large topics like communes/religion/community through the garbage they left behind to be a hilarious combination, and a reality check. 

Is This Wallpaper? Or Packaging? Either Way Almost Peels Right Off!

My family has a vast collection of wrapping papers, sometimes it feels like we have more of this than anything else in the house….we also have a huge collection of intricate rugs. Therefore like other photos, I was just curious about combining the two items. The idea of “peeling” also entered my thought process while constructing…in certain cultures they use cheap wrapping papers as wallpaper and even rugs as insulation. After all, why not? it still serves the same purpose, albeit slightly tweaked. 

Sisyphus, But Make it Modern

Working in Construction, I use various tools and materials, but most of the time it comes down to working with the same things over and over again…thinking on this, I thought on the myth of Sisyphus; Sisyphus rolls a rock up a hill, hoping to undo a cycle. Modern man is stuck in the same cycle, so why not depict this?

Pandemic Flowers for Nobody in Particular

This image was made shortly after graduation, in May of 2020. I went in with dreams and came out jaded, due to a global pandemic, lackluster support from an alma matter struggling with financial drama, a general sense of hopelessness and hectic-ness. Despite all this going on, I knew that pushing through with work would lead to some result. It’s that endpoint or answer I was keen on getting to, rather than focusing on my bleak present. 

Damn, Thats the American West…?

I was stuck cleaning out an old storage unit and given some rope (yes, an odd combo). But then happening upon a landscape painting from a German painter; that also happened to look so “American” and reminded me of the “American Progress” painting by John Gast (itself a play on Manifest Destiny), I knew I had to combine the two separate but similar objects into something larger. “Progress” comes at the cost of being stuck collecting dust in a storage unit? The irony is fully there, and I love it.

Monkey Bars, At the Jobsite Tho!?

When little, you’re given various milestones in development…reaching a certain height, learning your first words, riding a bicycle, ect. Reaching adulthood there seems to be only three; Starting a career, building a family, buying a house. And yet even with less, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities of milestones in our lives, to the play structure most of us used growing up, the Monkey Bars. But where as those had a set start and end, being a structure, the bars we encounter in life seem unending and infinite.

Bro, Think We Good On Tape…

Saw the painters tape, saw the basket, decided these two clearly separate items needed to come together. Results speak for itself, I’d say. Also thinking on the utility of the item, why shouldn’t it have more than one handle?  Form over Function. Function over Form?

Sunday Chairs, But Its Not Even Mass Yet!?

Bringing in chairs for the annual Church Service on Sunday, I couldn’t help but notice how nicely the blue contrasted with the pink of the cherry tree and dull grey of the retaining wall in the parking lot….so I haphazardly piled them up and took several photos, much to the disappointment of the Church-goers, and Priest. After all, why not have some fun in such a banal environment?

You Know How It Is When They Turn 30….Boys Will Be Boys!

An absurd non-sequitur, but one that fits, seeing that I constructed/staged this in my fathers “man cave”. Kid like play, in an adult space. You know how those kids get, even turning into Adults!

What Glassware, Grandma?

Family Heirlooms are usually things that are viewed as “passive” collections. Most of the time they sit and collect dust, with family members paying little to no attention to them; But happening upon my Grandmas set, I couldn’t help but document it and wonder…what if it was tweaked?

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