OCEANSIDE — Aaron Kramer likes to show the mechanics in his art.
“When you turn a handle, you actually can see the cause and effect of that,” Kramer told The Coast News. “You become part of the machine in the process of animating this particular scene or tableau.”
The Oceanside Museum of Art will feature a collection of his works titled “Sense of Wonder,” on display from March 7 to Aug. 23. His kinetic automata, sculptures, drawing machines and wire forms create experiences from repurposed physical items.
“There’s some historical precedent in what I do and then there’s also just pure folly and fun,” Kramer said. “Hopefully, it brings a smile to people’s faces.”
The Santa Monica-based artist’s passion for this type of artistic expression began as a child growing up in the suburbs on the south side of Chicago.
“I like to say that Thursday night was my favorite night because that was when they put the trash out,” Kramer said. “And so I would search the neighborhood on my skateboard looking for the biggest piles of clear evidence that somebody just cleaned out a garage or basement.”
Kramer came from a family of artists. His mother painted and did needlepoint. His father was a jeweler, and his siblings are also artists.
During his another-man’s-treasure voyages, Kramer said he would especially look “for old motors and wheels and things to build go-karts with and build forts with and just interesting objects to take apart and see how they worked.”
Kramer chases that impulse through his art. He studies the material properties and engineering choices that physically shaped an object. Kramer told The Coast News that “the objects and the stories that they hold have always been a very key part of my process.”
“Whether it’s a soda bottle or a tin can, it was built for a very specific purpose,” Kramer said. “I like to take it a step further and say, ‘What is it wanting to be? What’s its higher purpose?’”
That understanding of an item’s utility and aesthetic goals informs what it could become in a work of art. Kramer becomes more deeply connected to the physical world around him, experiencing objects as they exist across time and applications. It is similar to how people connect with machines by turning a handle or simply observing a piece’s dimensions.
“You’re kind of the ghost in the machine making it move,” Kramer said.
Kramer added that he loves sharing this “maker mentality” with others. Kramer will lead workshops as part of the “Sense of Wonder” exhibit.
Kramer said he especially enjoys teaching children how to use various tools, such as jigsaws and drills, to “empower kids’ imaginations.” He said the types of classes he has taught and summer school programs began as a way to get his own children interested in these skills, but have since taken on a higher purpose: showing them how to “physically fix something themselves.”
“I want to get as many kids imbued with a maker mentality, so that they look at problems as solvable,” Kramer said.