| Description |
The show contained twenty-two sculptures of the human form. All but three of the figures in the show were derived from five half life-size figures. Of these five figures three were female and two male. The group of five figures were each represented in the three media of beeswax, aluminum, and bronze. The aluminum and bronze figures move in two rows down the length of the room. They are based on large black concrete "tabletops" that are held aloft by a cantilevered steel arm that anchors into a black concrete foot, making a shape rather like a large 7. The aluminum figures I refer to as Recombinant figures (a play on genetic engineering), as they have extra body parts added to them from the other figures or repetitions from themselves. The aluminum is polished and wire-wheeled to a pure metallic shine. The bronze figures I refer to as Sequential figures (a play on RNA and natural genetic repetition), as they retain all marks that occur during the lost wax casting process. The patination on the bronze is a multilayering of browns and greens, with raw polished bronze detail and heat induced reds and blues. The beeswax figures were suspended 3' off the floor by silk harnesses. A narrow tube of silk connected the harnessed figure to an 8' length of titanium rod that sprung from a counterbalancing 2' tube of black cement. These figures hung far into the room, while their anchors lined the wall, leading back to the trebuchet. A trebuchet is a medieval siege weapon that replaced the catapult. Loaded as ammunition is one of the female wax figures, and the trebuchet is pointed at the entrance to the gallery. At the entrance of the gallery stand two sentry-like aluminum figures. They each stand on a two-thirds life size leg, and their torsos and heads are combinations of male and female characteristics. On the far rear wall are the three Furies made from quarter life-size female figures that erupt into doll arms at the shoulders. A male wax figure also protrudes from the wall on a shorter titanium rod and silk harness. This figure reveals the process of the wax forms by allowing the hemp backing to show through the figure and erupt from the head. The same male figure is used to create the Recombinant aluminum form in polished bronze. This bronze recombinant figure stands on a "7" base, separate from the rows of figures on like bases. ' The figures create an uneasy and pensive mood, crowding the room with the immediacy of their existential dilemma. |
