“In my version the natural environment is the coffee shop and my materials are the to-go coffee cup and all it accoutrements. The resulting work is both ironic and labor intensive with a traditional craft based sensibility” are the words of Jonathan Brilliant, the artist behind the most current exhibit on display at the Lightwell Gallery in the Fred Jones Art Center, the Goldsworthy of the Coffee Shop series.

Brilliant has been constructing the installation out of thousands of coffee stirrers that are held together only by weaving and tension since Tuesday, Aug. 18 in the Lightwell Gallery in the School of Art and Art History.

The installation at OU is only one of a series in Brilliant’s Goldsworthy of the Coffee Shop project. There are similar installations on display all over the country at such locations as Charleston, S.C., Orangeburg, S.C., Brooklyn, NY and Sumter, S.C.

All the installations are site specific, meaning they are made from scratch at the same location at which they are to be displayed.

Since his graduation from San Jose State University in 2007, Brilliant has been creating his site-specific installations in addition to other works.

Brilliant uses a rust on paper technique, in which he forces metal objects to undergo the oxidation process and forces the resulting rust on to paper. He also makes sculptures out of weaving or welding found objects, such as water bottles, together. Brilliant also creates sculptures out of to-go coffee cups.

“I see a parallel with the portable consumer fetish of the to-go coffee cup and the traditional traveling altars and fetish pieces seen in Buddhist and Hindu cultures,” Brilliant said. “The coffee cup acts as a surrogate image for Buddha or Vishnu, I have explored various permutations of the coffee cup as fetish object through drawings, castings, and other sculptural and performative interventions to better understand this powerful force in my life.”

The exhibit is truly a chance for the OU community to witness the creation and finished product of a unique artistic medium. Even if people don’t consider themselves interested in the arts, it is amazing just to see the sheer size of the project; thousands of coffee stirrers held together by weaving and tension.

“This is a great opportunity for our students to see clever appropriation and thoughtful construction merging into an experience that questions materials, motives, and the nature of art to explore and evaluate art itself,” said Jonathan His, associate professor of contemporary sculpture at OU’s School of Art and Art History. “He engages installation art and sculpture in an energetic fashion.”

The exhibit is also an opportunity for members of the Norman community to view an interesting piece of art. The installation will be on display to the public Friday Sept. 11 as part of the 2nd Friday Circuit of Art, a program sponsored by the Norman Arts Council that strives to transform all of Norman into an arts district, with the help of the Norman Gallery Association and CART, which provides free transportation to visitors on the CART Trolley.

This free exhibit takes place in Lightwell Gallery on the second floor of the Fred Jones Art Center through Sept. 25.