4 September – 9 November

Opening Reception 4 September 6-10pm

Marginal Utility is proud to present Transitional Objects by the Philadelphia based artist Scott Kip. This is Kip’s second project to be exhibited with Marginal Utility.

1. Rumination Mirror.

2. Objects.

3. The Unattended Death.

Objects:

Magnifying glass. From my Paternal Grandfather’s basement shop.

Elephant bank. A gift from my aunt when I was born.

Wooden ladder. From on top of the concrete humidor in the basement of 319 N. 11th st.

Wanamaker Organ elevation drawing. Printed in cyanotype.

Folding wooden ladder. From 319 N. 11th st.

Books. The 4 that have most influenced my life and work.

Table. From the trash at the Mutter Museum.

Windup motor. From when I met my first love.

Bronze block plane. A gift from my parents for my 25th birthday.

Spiral sketchbook. In 2000 the studio building I was in converted to condos and I was forced to move. I rode my bike around the city and used this sketchbook to record possible places to set up my studio.

Cub scout photo. Possibly my origin photo. I am assembling something childish but frighteningly similar to my later work.

Wooden tool box. From a childhood neighbor.

Step stool. From my maternal grandmother’s house.

Glass and saucer. From an abandoned Masonic temple in Binghamton, NY.

Feathers. From my parrot.

Mouse. My transitional object. A stuffed animal sewn by my paternal aunt and given to me at birth.

Fabric. From my aunt, given to my mother so she could repair Mouse.

Dried weeds. As a child I went on an after dinner walk with my father and he picked weeds from the side of the road to use as hay in the manger of our family creche set. Something about that walk stuck with me and in 2012 when I was back on the street where I grew up I picked some weeds from the same location. I did not notice but they were hiding an egg sack and eventually erupted with praying mantises.

Skateboard decks. 1991- present. I have saved every skateboard deck I have ridden.

Skateboard. My current skateboard. I only have one.

A tin drum.

Wooden labyrinth. Built in 2012 but didn’t make it into my show.

Folding mirror. Gift from a friend that I helped move.

Cabinet and drawers. From the basement of 319 North 11th. Holding parts from Arrow Sewing Machine Company.

Steam locomotive photo. Shot by my grandfather, printed and framed by my father.

Model rail road schedules. In holder. From my grandfather’s model rail road.

Rail road sign. From the basement of my grandparent’s house.

Model locomotive and box. From my grandfather.

Rubbing of Etant Donnes. Made in 2001.

Pine cones. Collected from Woodland Cemetery in March, 2007, at midnight, under a total eclipse of the moon. I watched the eclipse on purpose and picked up the pine cones on purpose but didn’t realize how the two had combined until later.

Self portrait. Reversed, as the artist asked that it not be included.

Pine cones. Collected from woodland cemetery on the winter solstice, 2010 , at midnight, under a total eclipse of the moon. This was completely on purpose.

Dowel pins. From a redwood water tower I scavenged from an abandoned building in 2008.

Magnifying glass. A birthday gift from someone that I loved.

Cut glass mirror. From a curbside.

Typesetting desktop. Pulled from a dumpster at John Struble’s building in 2002.

Masonic top hat. From 19..

Masonic apron. From Harmony Lodge #52. Philadelphia, PA

Book of accepted masonic lodges. 1998.

Masonic Past Master’s Jewel. 2000-2002 and 2007.

Masonic bible. From 1922, embossed with my maternal great grandfather’s name.

Photograph. Taken by me, at age 5, of Franklin Ketler, my neighbor, who taught me how to make things. While I was in college, he was sick and I did not visit him before he died.

The game of Bagatelle. Franklin Ketler had one that the neighborhood children would play and I found this one at a garage sale.

Scale. From my childhood house.

Hat and shirt. They were my grandfather’s.

Cheese grater. A gift, the only thing that remains from an unrequited love that I spent 6 years pursuing in my 20’s.

Glass cabinet. From the Mutter Museum.

Sketchbooks and calendars. 1994-present.

Book of things completed. This I where I record everything project that I finish.

Present. The central sculpture in many of my previous installations.

Photograph of Bruno Schulz.

Jar of phosphorescent paint. Circa 1980. From my father. Printing images onto phosphorescent paint with camera flashes was the basis for most of my college work.

Oil portrait of Dot. 2007. Painted by Nakima Ollin, who’s work I admire.

Fragment of a model rail road bridge. Built by my grandfather. I grew up playing in the 2,000 square foot model rail road he spent 30 years building in the basement of his house. This is all that remains.

Metal tool box. A christmas gift from my father when I was … I used it to carry art supplies to class all through grade school.

Testors enamel model paints.From the Meils, childhood neighbors who introduced me to art, music and theater.

Embroidered birth announcement. Made for my mother by a college friend of her’s.

Cabinet. From the basement of 319 North 11th st when it was a cigar factory. Made from scraps of bead board by the carpenters who paneled the original basement.

Plywood slats. Left over from work for Paul Etienne Lincoln, who I admire greatly.

Wooden ladder. Generously loaned from the Chorus division of the Wanamaker Organ.

Rag rug. From the bedroom that was furnished for my birth.

Floor lamp. From an antique store in Virginia that I visited with a love.

Wooden crate. From Sam Whitcraft, a friend who collected and restored antique phonographs, mechanical musical instruments, 1920s automobiles, pipe organs, music boxes, pianos and clocks and lived in the same house his entire life. He used this crate in the Wanamaker organ shop from 1995 to 2006 to hold up his hot plate and glue pot. I use it for the same purpose in my shop now.

Rotary telephone.

The White Chair. From the living room of the house where I grew up.