About ApeZoo Studios

They are often asked about their unusual name: ApeZoo. “ApeZoo”, they explain, is named for the human race: we are all apes, and our civilization is a zoo. They point out that chimpanzees, gorillas, humans and orangutans are all closely related, and use the word zoo in the sense of any wild, crowded and chaotic place.

The husband and wife team of Gary and Jo Cass are the principals of ApeZoo. They moved from Hawaii to Sedona, Arizona in February, 2009. While living in Hawaii they became serious about their photography. They also started making things out of discarded and unusual stuff they found as they travelled and hiked around the Big Island of Hawaii. The “Found Stuff” was hauled back to their loft in downtown Hilo. Over time, they developed a real sense of appreciation for things they once considered as nothing more than trash or junk. That awareness heavily influenced both their photography and the objects they assembled.

Since arriving in Sedona, they have explored the desert areas of California, Nevada, Utah, and, of course, Arizona. The stark beauty of the deserts and high chaparral of the Southwest has replaced the lush forests and lava fields of Hawaii.

ApeZoo finally recognized the need to open their studio to the outside world as their photography and object-making mature. ApeZoo now exists in Bell Rock Plaza in the Village of Oak Creek and is open on a “by appointment” basis.

ApeZoo produces what they call ‘Circumstantial Objects’ from things they harvest in the wild. “The wild” is defined as any place out-of-doors: unpopulated rural areas, suburban surroundings, industrial quarters and abandoned buildings, to name a few. They also consider thrift shops and yard sales fair game to acquire the raw materials for the objects they create. Friends and family, knowing their eccentric style, dump/bequeath “great stuff” on them from time to time.

For the most part, ApeZoo’s Circumstantial Objects are brutally honest re-calibrations of what they believe Southwestern Art should be. They think the term ‘Southwestern Art’ needs redefining.

As Gary and Jo put it, “Hike your heart out, and you’re not going to run into a lot of cowboys and Indians, wild horses, or anything like what you see as the standard subject matter in many local galleries. Instead, broken glass, beer cans, plastic and metal debris, etc., are what we encounter wherever we go. These tacky and forsaken artifacts are what we employ to create our Circumstantial Objects. As strange as it sounds, we think a piece broken glass is a beautiful thing, and the ubiquitous rusty tin cans and barbed wire are objects to be admired.”

ApeZoo’s Circumstantial Objects are roughly divided into three categories:

The floor pieces are designed to be placed on the floor and stand on their own without any additional support. Currently there are nine floor pieces on display, with several others under construction. On the left is ‘Cactus Baby’ which features a doll’s head under a glass dome, an old bottle from Jerome, a used saw blade, a railroad sign, and a rebar metal stand used in the construction of this object.

Many of ApeZoo’s objects are two-sided so they can be either mounted on the wall or suspended from the ceiling. A variety of trays, acrylic panels, clipboards, wood, cardboard, and sheet metal are used as the substrate on which the objects are assembled.

The desktop pieces are the most diverse group, and range from very simple to very complex objects.

ApeZoo chooses to work with just about any manner of raw materials, but the usual suspects are:

• * Broken glass, the most common object found in the wild
• * Rusty metal parts, especially ones used as targets
• * Barbed wire and other fencing materials
• * Basic construction items such as nuts, bolt, nails, and related tools
• * Discarded rusty beer and soda cans
• * Spent gun shells
• * Plastic articles such as shopping bags and fast food containers, water bottles
• * Paper and cardboard of all sorts
• * Natural items such as crawdad claws, devils claws, feathers, etc.
• * Doo-dads that otherwise would end up in landfills

ApeZoo also produces high quality archival limited edition prints from photographs taken during their travels and sojourns over the last few years. The prints are numbered, signed and authenticated. Like their objects, their photography focuses on seeing things in a different level. Instead of the famous red rocks of Sedona, their prints show the rich colors and beauty they find on old things, rusty metal objects, cactus and broken glass.

As Jo puts it: “Typical Sedona and Southwestern landscape photographs are what we call ‘beauty shots’ and we have nothing against them. It’s just we like to focus on different elements of the landscape, the same stuff we use to make our circumstantial objects.” That said, we do publish an occasional beauty shot.

When asked about their working philosophy, the answer was surprisingly clear cut: “Our goal is to make intriguing things, that’s about it”.

If you’re interested in visiting ApeZoo to see their Circumstantial Objects or their photographic prints, give them a call at (928) 254-0201 or (928) 254-1220.