I wanted to take a fraction of my personal space and transport it to the public arena without forsaking the feel of the very intimate. Untitled with Papasan Under Tree is a comfort piece, the type of place that physically makes available a squashy and relaxing vessel and allows the mind to wonder. The space was framed, as if to create a pod, by the chair underneath and the lampshade above, and it was nestled in the nook of a tree. Separation because of the frame and dreamed sense of safety under the tree. Just off a major footpath, the installation was nonintrusive enough to be a proper vantage point. One could observe the daily hubbub and still remain quite removed. This fusion of voyeurism and the ability to escape is the delicious satisfaction I glean from reading a book for pleasure. I chose to include the book Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh because Waugh generates characters whose lives revolve around escaping in one sense or another. One hero of the story is explained: “but Grimes… was of the immortals. He was a life force. Sentenced to death in Flanders, he popped up in Wales…Had he not moved unseen when the darkness covered the waters?” (270). Grimes was always running, not just evading his past but also thrusting forward into something fresh and unknown. In reading about Grimes hugged by the safety of the papasan, we watch excitedly, but we only live his action vicariously. By placing the installation in reality, with such tangible action so near, the possibility to spring up and join the story persists, allowing the participant to leave the safety behind for another to enjoy. Monday, November 8, 2010
Untitled with Papasan under Tre
I wanted to take a fraction of my personal space and transport it to the public arena without forsaking the feel of the very intimate. Untitled with Papasan Under Tree is a comfort piece, the type of place that physically makes available a squashy and relaxing vessel and allows the mind to wonder. The space was framed, as if to create a pod, by the chair underneath and the lampshade above, and it was nestled in the nook of a tree. Separation because of the frame and dreamed sense of safety under the tree. Just off a major footpath, the installation was nonintrusive enough to be a proper vantage point. One could observe the daily hubbub and still remain quite removed. This fusion of voyeurism and the ability to escape is the delicious satisfaction I glean from reading a book for pleasure. I chose to include the book Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh because Waugh generates characters whose lives revolve around escaping in one sense or another. One hero of the story is explained: “but Grimes… was of the immortals. He was a life force. Sentenced to death in Flanders, he popped up in Wales…Had he not moved unseen when the darkness covered the waters?” (270). Grimes was always running, not just evading his past but also thrusting forward into something fresh and unknown. In reading about Grimes hugged by the safety of the papasan, we watch excitedly, but we only live his action vicariously. By placing the installation in reality, with such tangible action so near, the possibility to spring up and join the story persists, allowing the participant to leave the safety behind for another to enjoy. 
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Interesting description of two worlds touching - act of reading on the edge of extroverted space
ReplyDeleteof campus life. And then the importance of the actual text seems to add to the meaning, as well a this comforting photograph with the tree, which appeared again in your last piece... as well as your own marvelous text torn to shreds.