House Pencil Green is the interdisciplinary studio of Joseph Herring and Amy Ruddick. Their exhibition at the PMA, Hotsy-Totsy-Vrooom-O-Rama, is part of a body of work in which the pair explore connections between the ‘art of the carny’ and the ‘carnivalesque tendencies of the artist.’ 

Through an examination of various approaches to both vernacular and fine art production, performance, and display; and through a series of sculptures, graphics, videos, performances, and workshops; the installation at the PMA will change, expand, and contort for the duration of the exhibition, reaching final form only upon conclusion. 

Visitors are encouraged to return during the course of the exhibition to note its progress, to view the installation as a time based medium, and to reach conclusions about its meaning after experiencing, in a similar fashion to time based media, the beginning, middle, and end.

CONTEXT 

Herring & Ruddick’s Hotsy-Totsy-Vrooom-O-Rama is a work in the tradition of Alexander Calder’s Circus and Jacques Tati’s Parade, both in terms of form as well as content. 

Like Calder’s Circus, Hotsy-Totsy-Vrooom-O-Rama is part of an ever-developing work, changing over time, different each time the piece is exhibited, influenced by the social as well as the architectural situation of the latest venue.

Like Tati’s Parade, Hotsy-Totsy-Vrooom-O-Rama’s content can be found in the performance and exhibition of the means of production right alongside the more ‘finished’ elements in the installation.