Bud and Betty Micheels
student artist-in-residence grant

CHEYENNE SEELEY 2007-08

The materials I have used in my installations and drawings have been chosen out of their inevitable tie to the underlying concept and process as opposed to any visually aesthetic qualities they may hold. The final executions of these works are based in the asking of simplistic and often literal questions of value and ownership. These questions have led to a considerable amount of travel involving numerous personal interactions, and experiences.

The specific brand Butterfinger was chosen because of its pop-cultural significance and linguistic humor. Through the process with the ‘300 Dollars Worth of Candy Bar’ I am exploring the ability to extract personal significance and value from the otherwise consumable byproducts of our seemingly economic existence. The concept for this process derived from my wanting to make something happen that seemed utterly unrealistic, to prove something to myself and attempt to prove the same thing to others; I can purchase a candy bar at one location and take the same candy bar to as many other locations as I want, to be purchased again. I found a technological loophole in a system that I blindly trusted, and I ran with it.

300 Dollars Worth of Candy Bar