One man’s refrigeration unit is another man’s artistic vision.
Galesburg native Gabe Moreno’s art piece “Atlantean” was recently acquired by the Galesburg Historical Society, which dedicated the sculpture yesterday in the Galesburg Antique Mall.
The sculpture is the size of a refrigerator and constructed from refuse material, barn lumber and a refrigerator skeleton.
Moreno’s work will be complemented by the last three refrigerators ever produced on the Galesburg Maytag line standing adjacent.
The proximity of the art to the products of a once booming manufacturing industry in town is itself suggestive of the theme that Moreno hoped to capture.
He says the idea was to reflect “on written history of the past while suggesting the histories yet to be written.”
Moreno tells WGIL the germ of an idea for the project began when he visited the Historical Society’s museum.
“I wanted to participate in it, but also pay some sort of tribute, homage to it in any way that I could,” he says. “So as an artist and as someone in graduate school studying art, I figured, hey, why not approach the historical society and see if they were interested in this idea.”
Moreno is a graduate of Galesburg High School, Knox College and will soon graduate from the University of Chicago’s Master of Fine Arts program.
He says his artistic practice investigates the relationship between material and thought.
Historical Society President Roger Reynolds says the piece will remain in the museum indefinitely.
