STUDIO F MINUS CREATES PUBLIC CONVERSATIONS THROUGH ART
SFM is Brad Hindson, and Michael Simon working with a network of world-class fabricators, engineers, and technologists.
Public Values and Public Experience
Studio F Minus' creative process is driven by two core principles: considering the public experience, and capturing public values. Because each site we create for is different, each of our artworks is unique.
Artworks that exist in a public space are declarations of public values. As such, it is imperative that the design process begins with an effort to understand the community that inhabits and has inhabited our site, so that a public artwork can enshrine the qualities and traits that resonate most with that community.
Every place engenders a different type of engagement. So when conceiving an artwork, SFM attempts to consider how the conditions of the site will shape a community's interaction with an artwork. An artwork experienced at speed on a commuter line is designed to be an icon, while an artwork in a park may be a quiter object for meditation and contemplation.
Artistic Vision
SFM Associate Artist Michael M Simon is an interdisciplinary artist whose conceptual rigor was recognized in 2018, when he received the Governor General's Academic Medal. His artistic process involves deep research into fine craft and industrial trades. Simon then applies that understanding to create artworks that uses common tools, objects, and materials as medium and subject.
Co-founder Mitchell F Chan has exhibited innovate works across North America since 2006. For his innovative practices, he was awarded the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Trustee Scholarship in Art & Technology Studies. His work has been covered and discussed in numerous media outlets including VICE, Canadian Art, Slate, the Toronto Star, and Gizmodo. His gallery work typically explores the liminal zone between legibility and illegibility.
Technical and Site Integration
SFM excels in collaboration with a site's engineering, design, and construction professionals. Studio F Minus co-founder Brad Hindson is a former Associate Architect at Diamond Schmitt, and leans on his experience managing the design and construction of large-scale institutional buildings. Hindson excels at understanding and responding to the engineering, construction, and logistics concerns that are part of the public art process.
Our communication with architectural and engineering design teams is the major reason why SFM's works consistently surpass public art requirements for durability and ease of maintenance.