Artwork copyright Mike Mandel. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Emptying the Fridge, 1984

Mike Mandel
(American, born 1950)

Location: Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Emptying the Fridge is a photograph by artist Mike Mandel. It is part of his series of photographs featuring colorful light trails. He created these images using a long exposure to capture the movement of light. This series both references and whimsically parodies early photographic studies of time and human motion by engineer Frank B. Gilbreth. Industrial factories used Gilbreth's time and motion studies as a training tool to analyze worker efficiency in the early twentieth century.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with North Mason School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Mike Mandel creates large-scale mosaic murals using photographic imagery. He states that his "approach to permanent public art is to tap into the intertwined stories of history, myth, images of land and community."

Mandel received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the California State University Northridge in 1972. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1974.