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Dominic Francisco Odbert, Petting Zoo
January 13–February 5, 2011
Born and raised on a farm in Sacramento, Dominic Odbert grew up herding cows, feeding pigs, and planting crops. His brother and he built multi-room forts out of hay barrels, stacked firewood into hollow shelters, and constructed "wild and crazy" bikes out of anything they could find. His grandfather taught him the basics of welding. Odbert graduated in 2008 with a B.A. in Fine Art (concentration: sculpture and furniture) from San Diego State. He studied photography in Sydney at the University of Technology and has been working mostly in video, photography, and installation. He has exhibited at various venues in Glasgow, Sacramento, and San Diego and participated with a Wang Foundation Scholarship in the Poverty Alleviation Program in southern rural China. Before starting graduate school this fall 2010 at Washington University in St. Louis, Odbert did an installation in Sacramento at the Sol Collective Gallery. His business venture, The Boomcase by Mr. Simo, is soon going to be featured in Rolling Stone, Playboy, Men's Journal, and Go Magazine.
He writes: The need to decorate and make something my own is my only desire. I want to be able to show people what's happening in my mind without having to sit down for a cup of coffee. To me, the couch is a pile of wooden sticks tied together with plastic bandages. The front door is a piece of plexi-glass found in a ditch. The carpet is twenty pounds of popped popcorn, making one of the most comfortable edible floors you ever set food on....I'm trying to create the dream within the dream that you had last night.
Odbert's website, is very fun and layered. On the Art/About page, for example, he provides some information about his character "SiMo":
Main working Medium is the Medium of Installations. Followed By Cake Eating. Then Sculpture Making. With a Little Bit of Foto Taking and Not Shooting. Sometimes A Brush Touches my finger tips with moderate success.
