H2O and the Water of Dreams

Fleisher Challenge Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA, 2002

I wanted to do a set of work that grew in the soil of thinking about measurement. About the weeds of measurement really. About how difficult it is to maintain the rigor of identifying a particular thing in an attempt to isolate it and understand it. I found that I appreciate the persistence of weeds. I like what I learn from paying attention to where weeds prosper. I like giving them soil in which to prosper.

I began with a show about measurement. I ended up with a show about weeds.

T is for tenacious

(Cast plaster text:)

T is for tenacious, a trail of smoke, the tug between your teeth.

Plural dusted solutions wring regularity out of randomness and

coordinate the moving parts. Watch your footing even closer to fruition - before hesitation settles. The catch is the catch.

A smudge is scored with assurance, flush with error but not immune to the wink of pollen.

A tally of crumbs reveals how limbs develop, to fetch or resign.

The babble of the micro world is where smiles are assembled, a personal shadow, improvisation tucked under the sill.

Visible skeins are caught talking to the mirror, looking for traction.

Land at odd intervals between dusk and dawn. Pester what you don’t know, scatter what you do. Halftone, and equivalent to the task at hand.

Three works nested in the plaster cast maze:

Fowler's Bust - ceramic bust, altered with phosphorescent paint

Ignoring Friction - phosphorescent silkcreened silk over steel table

al-Kahzini scale - fabricated replica, stainless steel

Ember

Phosphorescent paint on Lexan

Loose leaf

Text on shelves are paragraph excerpts from Italo Calvino's short story "The Infinite Lawn", from Mr. Palomar, (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1985}.

"Around Mr. Palomar's house there is a lawn. This is not a place where a lawn should exist naturally: so the lawn is an artificial object, composed from naural objects, namely grasses. The lawn's purpose is to represent nature, and this representation occurs as the substitution, for the nature proper to the area, of a nature in itself natural but artificial for this area. In other words, it costs money. The lawn requires expense and endless labor: to sow it, water it, fertilize it, weed it, mow it."

Metronome

Text screenprinted on board, with phosphorescent paint

A rainbow

was

continuously visible

for six hours

over Sheffield, England

on March 14,

1994.

On July 30,

1991,

Placido Domingo

was applauded

through

101 curtain calls

for one hour

and twenty minutes

after a performance of

Othello

at the Vienna Staatsoper,

Vienna, Austria.

The longest period

on record

that anyone

has continuously stood

is

more than 14 years

in the case of

Swami Maujgiri Maharaj

when performing

the Tapasya

or penance

from 1955

to

November 1973

in

Shahjahanpur,

Uttar Pradesh, India.

When sleeping

he would lean against

a plank.

He died

at age 85

in September, 1980.

The slowest move

played

since time clocks

were introduced

was in Vigo, Spain

in 1980

when

Francisco R. Torres Trois

took

2 hours, 20 Minutes

for

his seventh move

vs.

Luis M.C. P. Santos.

The longest measure

of time

is the para

in Hindu

chronology.

It is equivalent

to the length

of the

complete life of Brahama,

or 311,040,000,000,000 years

(68,500 times

the estimated age

of the earth.)

Excerpts from the Guiness Book of World Records, 1998 Edition, Bantam Books, NY.

Phosphorescent ink on mat board

Eye chart

I read into significance

a glimpse of electric hush

the weight of seaming.

Cutworks

Three linen cloths stitched with phosphorescent thread, mounted with phosphorescent backing

A touch of road

A touch of road clearly written in the middle

stirring as many memories

on the horizon.

A good place to rest - or roost

while reacting to the shade.

Water between the pipes

is rugged and plain.

None dare call it reason,

and missing persons awaiting discovery

may be lost forever.

Why we return and take the time

for smaller problems,

lest we forget.

A wet nose

A wet nose looks askance

for the weather report

finding that the skin understands

with no obligation.

There's something to character

you feel at a glance

and prediction ends

with each fragrant response

in spite of the name rose.