An Awakening – Proposal & Sketch for Exhibition / Installation
- possible butoh style performance within circle in certain venues, venues with out performances still photos will be hung on an opposite wall.
In the main body of the gallery I will be expanding on themes from earlier installations which have grown into larger works. I propose to fill the main gallery with a sculptural installation and supporting works. An Awakening – A circle of bowls 40+, each crafted from hand twisted rope (a skill I learned from my late Father), made from both new and up cycled jute twine from decades of collecting what would have been normally discarded bits. I have made bowls of wood, ceramic, hand made rope, and fabric. They are symbols of receptivity. Thin veils of scrim cloth will be stretched using bamboo poles from ceiling to the floor obscuring the view of the bowls. The idea is to allow the viewer to experience a since of loss and found as they move through the space, but once inside the etherial form the viewer enters a more intimate space. The word-laden bowls delicately cradle rolls of hand torn bandages. The viewer being left unsure if they are an offering of comfort or healing. In the center of the bowls hang entangled red ropes made of torn sheets. The space murmurs of a place of ritual.
An Awakening
will be inside the fabric scrim box lit only from inside
- RED – An Awakening
- YELLOW – Emptiness Laden
- BLUE – Preserved Obsolescence
- GREEN – Fabric of Life
- 2D GREEN – Collage works on paper
YELLOW – Emptiness Laden
Using a defined corner there will be a pile of 20-30 books, pages removed, positioned in the center of a large 8′ x 8′ mat woven of text : see images below work in production.
BLUE – Preserved Obsolescence
In the front gallery I propose a single work hung from the ceiling. I’ve turned even more toward using the found and discarded this year, of all things phone books. They have a weight, humility, and need to still exist. I quartered the pages, redistributed and rebound them into something new. Hung out in the summer sun like fish or tobacco to dry. They are becoming preserved obsolescence. I’ve watched the papers wither and age. I think about the names in those books. In a lot of ways time standing still. I think about those who are dying with only a stranger by their side this year, many of them at an age that we have thrown them to the side, discarded. I’ve created a sort of alter to preserved obsolescence. For this show the piece will grow in size to 4′ x 8′. The entire space becomes a place of reflection, creating a time to pause from the constant hum of humanity. Our arrogance of how we treat resources has truly broken us, the human race and the environments we live within. This moment in time has brought light on truths we already knew were there. The feast we live on is becoming empty. The world we live in is in trouble and it is time we remember and reclaim our resourcefulness.
GREEN – Fabric of Life
2D GREEN – Collage works on paper
I have continued to work with natural materials and found objects avoiding petroleum-based elements for both ecological and personal reasons. The series of works I have completed have involved feverish works of weaving, hand twisted rope, fiber arts and stitchery. I continue to push their traditional application integrating them into mixed media and alternative uses. I have often incorporated weaving with text in my work but now they have become metaphors. Weaving and text are both symbols for life. The work has been honed to exist in a parallel narrative; a layered complexity and a minimalist sensibility. It’s intricacy is then upended by the use of humble natural materials.