This past week in Theme Sequence, I’ve started to realize the glittering, glowing, and twinkling qualities of light that always catch my eye could probably transition into the materials I use to create my work. Among other things, this somehow has led me to an irrational urge to cover one of the those large, cobalt blue recycle bins (the ones that look like giant space pods and practically are as tall as I am) completely in thick, crusty silver glitter… can you imagine the way it would look when the sun just hit it? Or how different little pieces would pop and it would shimmer and twinkle as you walked down the street toward it? I’m finding myself really drawn to these “low,” whimsical, childlike, or discarded items (like anything from confetti and silly string to even cigarette butts strewn throughout the streets) and maybe putting them in a new context, where that secret feeling of giddy joy I see when I come across them interacts with the public in a new way. I like that these materials are simple and can be transformed; that they are celebratory and childlike in a way that can take you back to that carefree innocence you owned when you looked at the world unweighted, taking everything in with those big, sparkly eyes. Technically, all this stuff is trash… or it’s ordinary; it doesn’t enter our repertoire as artistic or beautiful or precious… but I kinda think it is.
In correlation with my concept of gifts or giving, I’m realizing why I’m really drawn to store displays, pasticceria cases, etc. – it’s the idea of presentation, of taking the time to arrange and present something beautiful to someone else. I’m seeing this concept of gift entering my work as a way of presenting – artfully planned and arranged. I’m still in love with the concept of some great emotion propelling the gift giving (because it’s such a beautiful thing to give freely to someone else), but I feel the presentation of this “gift” is just as important. Whether it be as literal as gift-wrapping and distributing a small map to a location of something beautiful, found or created, or if I slip maps into the little crevices of Florence – at ATMs, on a café table, etc. for those paying enough attention to find… I’m not sure. I have another idea that I’m really excited about, but I’m currently at a loss for finding materials; a little more planning is involved… but, if all goes according to plan, I feel as if the whole process of the work could be really something wonderful. And the presentation aspect is much stronger and much more integral (maybe more literal?) to this endeavor than with this idea of glittering of ordinary objects. Maybe the gift there is even just my intention behind it, although that goes unseen. It’s what I’m glittering and for whom… but I don’t know if a formal presentation of the item in necessary. The work I’ve done already has been placed strategically, so its intended recipient(s) will come across it in their daily or weekly trajectory… it’s just a matter of when. I don’t want them to be “invited” or given a map to the location; I want them to be going about his or her life and then stumble upon the object and experience that sweet serendipity. However, really, the intended recipient(s) don’t ever need to find it; I’ll never know if they will, unless I happen to be there when it happens. For me, it’s more about the feeling behind the action of creating the work, and I know someone –by many someones – who will interact with and “receive” the experience of it as an anonymous gift as well will see it.
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Erin
