Clutch Gallery is pleased to present Training by Rich Mansfield. Mansfield's sculptures are influenced by his life and have a sense of humor usually in either their content or use of materials, or both. Training is about boyhood—both Mansfield's and that of his sons. Since nothing speaks to boyhood like a bike, Mansfield centered his piece for Clutch on it. As a child, he had a very small bike, so small that his parents bought a bigger crank for it so he could keep pace with his friends. For safety reasons his parents also insisted that a tall orange flag be attached to the small bike to ensure cars could see him. Now Mansfield has kids, and although he does not share the same concerns as his parents, he is concerned for all the other dangers out there, like sharks in puddles. Training runs through August 3, 2011, and can be seen both in the bike basket of the director of Clutch and around town.
Artist Rich Mansfield lives in Omaha, Nebraska; he received an MFA in art and technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003 and a BFA in sculpture from Northern Arizona University. In Chicago he has shown at the Cultural Center and ThreeWalls along with a vast array of former spaces he truly misses. In Nebraska he has shown at The Bemis Underground and Tugboat and has an upcoming show at the Lux Center for the Arts. He is the former founder, editor, and photocopier of Regulator magazine. He misses Chicago, but loves his family.
Image: courtesy of http://richmansfield.com/home.html