Tuesday, September 21, 2010

"Labyrinth" by Darwin

This large, cascading web was woven late in the night, under the haze of the fire's eastbound smoke.  Weaving it made me feel timeless.  Hip-pop and drunken slurs drifted through my ears as I dipped over and under, around and and between the five trees.

Usually that kind of crap bothers me:  I hate the injustice of rampant alcohol consumption, I hate the racism behind Hip-pop.  But as I wove, the rhythmic movement of my elbows and fingers soothed me, and I felt wise like the spider that wove the story of reality.  The space that sits quietly to the side of the high-traffic path to campus became a labyrinth of solace.  The blue yarn glowed in the hazy damp air.  Looking out from the inside of the web was like looking through fire: everything was vibrating at a minutely perceptible frequency.

In class, I think some humans felt stimulated by the piece.  I think this owes to the vibrancy of the light blue color, the texture and delicacy of the yarn, and the scale of the web relatively.  I noticed that some felt compelled to look at it from new angles; to try to look up at the sky through it; to use it as a lens through which to renew the world.

We came up with some great ideas that inspire me to continue making large-scale webs.  The integration of sound, possibly in the story of dreams is one idea.  Another is regarding material-- creating something elastic that could be stretched and played with, or a reliably sturdy weave that people could lay on.  Also, wouldn't it be fun to look up into the sky and watch the clouds pass, or snow fall through a big, lofty dream-catcher?

-Darwin

2 comments:

  1. Exquisite piece in its location, scale relationships, meaning on the day we visited, meaning during creation as you describe. The elements you reference and your experience of creating the work were palpably present the next day. Luminous pale blue yarn, refulgent even in daylight, delicate and strong simultaneously - strong because delicate and refined. Yes. Good work.

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  2. I think these are very powerful sculptures. They can be read in so many different ways by so many different people. I would love to see more of them!

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