By Elizabeth Shannon, Bass Museum of Art

If you happened to be strolling around near the Bass Museum of Art about a month ago, you might have seen a man in Walgreens’ storefront windows drawing vigorously on an unusually long chalkboard. This industrious gentleman was the artist Michael Scoggins, the creator of a sizable new work entitled “Chalk” (2014), the most recent addition to the Bass Museum’s “tc: temporary contemporary” program.

Michael Scoggins, “Chalk” (2014), chalk and chalkboard paint, courtesy of the artist and Diana Lowenstein Gallery. Photo: Liz Shannon

Michael Scoggins, “Chalk” (2014), chalk and chalkboard paint, courtesy of the artist and Diana Lowenstein Gallery. Photo: Liz Shannon

Michael Scoggins, “Chalk” (2014), chalk and chalkboard paint, courtesy of the artist and Diana Lowenstein Gallery. Photo: Liz Shannon

Scoggins is perhaps best known for his large-scale drawings on lined paper, which appear to have been ripped from an over-sized spiral-bound notebook. His works are sometimes presented screwed up into a ball, as torn fragments, or as giant paper planes engaged in a dogfight. However, for “tc: temporary contemporary” Scoggins has chosen to work in a different way, with pieces of chalk, a chalkboard and an eraser.

For anyone who went to school prior to the advent of the whiteboard, chalk and chalkboards inevitably conjure up thoughts of educational establishments, and memories of the requisite smudges of chalk that inadvertently accessorized most teachers’ clothing. Scoggins consciously plays upon the chalkboard’s nostalgic charge by having his boards painted onto the wall at the approximate height that they would be positioned in a scholastic institution.

The common associations elicited by chalkboards sit extremely well with Scoggins’ practice. His work tends to be playful, and often engages with personal, social and political ideas, always concluding with the signature ‘Michael S.’ Obviously this is a reference to the artist’s own name, but it is also indicative of a mischievous, youthful ‘duel identity’ which enables Scoggins to express his ‘true’ thoughts without interference from the social mores that can inhibit the honest expression of most adults’ feelings and desires. It is only natural that ‘Michael S.’ would be compelled to fill a blank chalkboard with his drawings, thoughts and scribbles.

Over the course of a week, Scoggins covered his long chalkboards with writing and drawings inspired by observations made while stationed within the windows. The artist’s subject matter relates to his experience of Miami Beach; politics; making art; and whatever else happened to come to mind – sometimes involving the passersby who observed him, just as he observed them.

Detail of “Chalk” (2014) by Michael Scoggins, chalk and chalkboard paint, courtesy of the artist and Diana Lowenstein Gallery. Photo: Liz Shannon

Scoggins could be seen drawing within the windows – in the space where products are usually displayed – by anyone walking by, giving the production of the work the quality of a performance. The compelling finished piece acts as a record of the period of time during which the artist ‘performed’ the creation of the work, while also presenting a snapshot of Scoggins-as-Michael S.’s thoughts, observations and preoccupations during this particular period.

View of “Chalk” from 23rd St. Courtesy of the artist and Diana Lowenstein Gallery. Photo: Liz Shannon

“Chalk” is on display in Walgreens’ storefront windows at 2300 Collins Avenue, in the windows facing 23^rd Street and Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, until November 2, 2014.

Born in Washington D.C., and now based in Brooklyn, Michael Scoggins is a regular visitor to Miami, where he is represented by Diana Lowenstein Gallery.