Data meets woodworking in Alex Monte-Sano’s world. Monte-Sano’s Data-Driven Sculpture In Wood show got a opening reception for a show at the Chris Nordin Studio of January 9.
“I typically start with a spreadsheet. I start with a topic and lay the data out and explore with what I visually want it to look like,” Monte-Sano said.
How he makes art is intriguing. He comes up with an idea or a question to answer and finds data to answer it. Then he builds a model in a design software to create a shape. Then he begins woodworking and creates a minimalist, abstract shape that is a blend of several different types of wood.
Look at any of his pieces and you’ll be intrigued. But look at the accompanying binders spread throughout the narrow, exposed brick room, and you’ll find the data and stories behind it that makes his pieces fascinating.
“Fear can really burn you, make you react… But if you really face that fear, and put it in perspective, you can experience a window of peace,” Wasentha Young, a mosaic artist who has also had shows at the Nordin, said. “I love these pieces. I find them to be very provocative and they have a sense of humor.”
She was talking specifically about “What’s Up Fellas?” These are three pieces with pointed ends, which are in fact commentary on the problems men face in the modern world.
A lot of his work is topical because he is exploring the data behind modern issues. A piece called “Fear” looks like two random, but highly polished pieces of wood. It is actually a venn diagram where one piece of wood represents the number of people who were killed by a gun in 2023 in the United States, the other piece of wood represents “the number of people who killed somebody with a gun”, Monte-Santo explains. The overlapping space shows the number of people who used a gun to take their own lives.
The largest piece is “You’re Not From Around Here.” It is a walnut and maple creation that comments on immigration to the United States from 1850 to 2023. It is a big walnut base that looks like a tree stump turned into a bass relief; except it has three long strips of maple that wrap up and around it loosely, like the wood itself has sprouted long fingers, that it is folding very, very loosely over it, the same way you might point your fingers into a loose bundle together while you’re praying or while you’re thinking about something.
“Time is radiating out from the center of the piece in all directions. The center of the piece is 1850 and the very rim of the piece is 2023, and the height of the walnut is the percentage of Americans who were not born in America,” Monte-Santo explains. “It peaks in the late 1800s, early 1900s, when there’s a big influx of European immigrants. Then there’s anti-immigration legislation in the mid-twentieth century, so the percentage of Americans born outside of America declines pretty dramatically and then has rebounded in recent years as we’ve seen more immigrants from Latin America. That’s what the base means. The three pieces across it are where those immigrants came from. So, the two lower ones are from Asia and Latin America. In the 1850s almost no immigrants were from Asia or Latin America; almost all of them were European, which is the higher groove there. And then as you look towards the outside, the percent of Americans who weren’t born in America, from Asia and Latin America, have increased dramatically and Europeans have declined; but today all groups are about equal.”
RELATED: Jacob Nordin Makes Fine Art Debut Alongside Brian Kritzman at the Nordin Gallery’s current glass show
Art is the third career for Monte-Sano. First a financier and then an educator, Monte-Sano has been making art since 2023, and this is his second show at Nordin’s studio.
“I think that the way Alex makes artwork with his conceptual approach, from data to craft is a really unique way to create something, where it’s completely not the way I create things,” Nordin said. “I create things from the crafts side of it because I was in crafts when I started off as a jewelry, then I was a glassblower, a metal smith and I’m always creating things in a craft orientated way. Over the years, it’s since evolved into more fine art. But I was really attracted the way to how Alex gets his conceptual data on his work, which is super cool—that it all comes from data that’s in your computer, before it evolves into itself.”
Monte-Sano’s work will be at Nordin’s studio at 117 East Ann Street until March 15. You can view the art for free from 12-4pm Thursdays and Fridays, or 10am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. If you can’t make those hours work you can arrange a viewing by appointment by contacting rita@chrisnordinstudios.com.
“I have been to Alex’s previous show. What I like about his pieces is … that it’s not just about surface appearances,” Carrie Lannon, a regular to the opening receptions Nordin throws, said. “They look beautiful to look at. But once you understand the meaning behind each piece, the data and the thought that went into creating each piece, it makes it even more interesting and compelling.”
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
