Much of Oscar Tuazon’s work is informed by systems theory, a field of knowledge trained on understanding the inner workings of complex systems through analysis of their parts and their operation over time. His interest in water is certainly one example. But on a smaller scale, he also looks to the systems that organize human […]
Category Archives: Oscar Tuazon Water School
Beadwall
Many of Oscar Tuazon’s sculptures are prototypes– iterations in an ongoing process of research, development, and refinement. This work precedes Curtain Wall (2013), also on view in this gallery, and gives insight into this particular series of material and mechanical investigations. Many of the artist’s experiments remain hidden from view, privately conducted in the studio, […]
Curtain Wall
Oscar Tuazon has long been interested in and inspired by the many inventions of Steve Baer. JHe has even attempted to model some of Baer’s invetions, the results of which often become new sculptural works. Curtain Wall is a case in point, and part of a larger series of works that attempted to develop window […]
Winona LaDuke (Honor the Earth)
In 2018 Oscar Tuazon transported part of his Zome Allow (2016) to Minnesota and began erecting a new Water School on the homestead of Winona LaDuke, a prominent social, political, and environmental activist who heads the Native environmental advocacy organization Honor the Earth. The organization has been deeply involved in protests against the controversial Dakota […]
Drumwall Water Window
This major new work was produced in collaboration with the MSU Broad, Guardian Glass LLC, Lansing Glass Company, and MSU’s Infrastructure, Planning and facilities unit. it began with Oscar Tuazon’s interest in reconsidering the passive solar architectural system devised by Steve Baer as part of his Zome Home. In the original design from 1972, drums […]
Rainbender
These three suspended works refer to the establishment of Oscar Tuazon’s Los Angeles Water School (LAWS). Like the Water School at MSU, LAWS occupies a section of Tuazon’s larger Zome Alloy (2016) sculpture, and is context-responsive. It serves local communities and is geared most directly at addressing water politics germane to its immediate environment. For […]
Rural Rocket
As an artist, Oscar Tuazon has a deep appreciation for the foundational elements of water, air, and fire. many of his works are created with these elements in mind, or as part of their very nature. This work was made on-site, based on a DIY design for a “rocket mass heater” (or rocket stove) Tuazon […]
Water Maps
Oscar Tuazon b.1975 Water Maps (2018-2019) Paint, marker, and white-out on US Geological Survey maps, Courtesy of the artist. These works are the latest in an ongoing series in which Oscar Tuazon maps water systems in the different locations in which he works. For Each exhibition of the Water Maps, he creates versions specific to […]
Water School Library
The books featured in this space have been borrowed from the MSU Libraries, carefully selected for inclusion by the artist and staff members at the museum. Like a typical library, the books are categorized according to different disciplines, which range from art, architecture, environmental sustainability and activism, indigenous studies, systems theory, and history, to name […]
Oscar Tuazon Water School
Water covers roughly 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, and makes up more than 60 percent of the human body. We are water, and water connects us all. To engage with this exhibition, it is important to start with this understanding . Water is a source of life, it is sacred, and it is a […]