Found technology: the art fabrication business of Jack Brogan

Abstract

The financial and operational structure of Design Concepts, the San Pedro, California business of Jack Brogan, was analyzed to determine what issues the art fabricator has responded to in terms of his work since 1965. Through oral histories, observations of working relationships between fabricator and current clients, and examination of archival evidence, the history of Brogan's activities was placed in the context of vernacular American industrial practices that date to the mid-nineteenth century. Through the use of "found technology," Brogan is able to produce artworks that address varying conceptual, stylistic, and technical concerns. Working with artists is a means for Brogan to pursue his own agenda of developing and applying tactile and empirical knowledge about materials and processes. Analyzing Brogan's way of thinking and working reveals what values, specifically improvisation and collective effort, are subsumed into the material landscape of the late-twentieth century.