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On The Hunger of the Starlings
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by Lynn Millette | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nature's cycles
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An artist engaged in his own queryAn intriguing room in the artist's house displays instruments of all kinds, musical and scientific. Blue mountain culture meets empirical science. Piano, guitars and a banjo share this space with racks of small carefully labelled bottles. Some liquids are clear, some amber of different shades. There are beakers and glass cylinders -- "Experiments", he says, with a childlike fondness. An artist engaged in his own query. Sometimes knowledge is insufficient. |
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Lived experienceIn a remote village up the Amazon, Juan Gomez-Perales was presented with what he thought was an empty bottle of Coca-Cola. He woke up the following morning in his hammock on a barge recovering from his initial experience with moonshine. |
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In the kitchen, homemade paraphernalia and gadgetry hissed and steamed a comforting sound. There was a galvanized metal bucket and copper pipes that sheened in contrast to the chromed pressure-cooker, spouts and rubber tubes. Thoughts of old-fashioned washtubs, brown jugs and the sound of bluegrass came to mind. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The artist could very well be from the Appalachians. With a slight twang in his voice he can play all of the bluegrass instruments. A solid wood piece (The Seven Coils 1997) carries the essence of this culture through a whimsical assemblage of coil in funnel, seemingly jammed into the jug's mouth. The top and bottom elements of the piece boast fair equilibrium through the use of similar volumes. Gomez-Perales tends the grape vine that has made its way up several balconies. Neighbours gladly oblige this fruit bearer's climb. Cool greenery that he strings and prunes with care overshadows the house. Insects and birds are its only enemy. Strategies escalate between man and clever bird when sweet fruits hang heavy on the vine. The head of a jet coloured fowl is witness to this experience. It appears oxidized on metal. The only depiction of a living creature (Hunger of the Starling , 2004), it sits in a portrait-like position as a side view bearing the wilful gaze of a worthy opponent. He leaves most of his materials untouched. When put on a lathe, he simply defines a shape in the wood and moves on. Natural shades dominate most of the pieces. The few elements of colour act as devices that question the idea of function in the sculptures. For example, colour appears on the cork of an Erlenmeyer flask (Sample, 2003) or on a container (Duolian, 2003) rendered from solid wood and painted cumin. Behind the jug, hangs a thin lengthy metal sheet that echoes a moment in time when the container was filled. The sculpture of a wooden beaker (Schematic: Slobber Box, 2003) holds two copper tubes in place. On a sheet of metal above it is etched a path for the pipes to follow. One to the left, one to the right, the opposing pipes imply separation and division, an unavoidable occurrence that is a part of any purification process. With the muffled sound of grapes popping from crushing pressure, juice comes in streams. As though separating good from bad, the pulp is discarded. The pungent smell of scalding grape juice exudes from a cloud of steam. As it is poured down the drain it twists for a moment in the shape of a star as it swirls down the circular mouth. Once distilled, the product will be put through the process again. Pristine vials await pure extract and time is of the essence; good things come to those who wait. |
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Holding a bead |
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Looking through the clear glass of the receiving jug, at the very tip of a spout will appear, at measured intervals, drops that fall and bounce off the liquid surface. Like beads from a broken necklace they will skip to the perimeter of the jug -- a sign of absolute purity. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The artist cuts metal tubing and bends it into cooling spirals that are left unconnected. He fills bottles with wood. There is absolute cohesion of systems where circulation networks are severed (The Seven Coils, 1997), connecting tubes dismantled and mangled (The Man with the Crooked Horn, 2004). The outer shape, the sheer appearance of objects is characteristic to the artist's work. The delicate quality of the diagram of a graph takes on the appearance of a bird's feather (Ethanol Hump, 2004). The surface develops in gradations of tone and perspective suggesting softness or the intricacies of flight. A stratagem via colour beckons the eye to certain areas, such as in the opening of tubes where he has placed obstructions (Hot and Cold Running Water, 1998). This acts as a means to carry thoughts of severed practicality or obsolescence. The artist filters his experiences and clean lines them into form. They are a schematic section of unseen experience, collected in a flask. He silences the objects transforming them into metaphor. Solid wood representations of receptacles are placed in front of metal sheets onto which shapes have been etched through oxidation (Sample, 2003). Rich black metal contrasts the pale engraved silhouettes of the bottles. In other instances, the function of the apparatus appears to be reflected on the plaque (Schematic: Slobber Box, 2003) and (78.4 C, 2003). Chalkboard drawings come to mind evocative of a sense of exploration, research and learning. In the hopes of feeding the hungry, scientific probabilism holds steadfast in the face of natural phenomena. The farmer, through seasonal change will rise with the sun to do the same. There is a kind of science present in everything that we do. The artist explores the specific applied science of industrial brewing but acknowledges the presence of the folksy science of handed-down recipes. The artist merges these perspectives through his work. Etched images describe patterns of scientific beauty, a molecular structure for alcohol (Diving Duck, 2003), a singular grain of barley etched in ochre (Diastase, 2003) and zigzagged tubing that shows the path of substance in mid-travel from point to point (Flake Stand II, 2001). A magnified perspective of a culture affords a pictorially elegant view of yeast activity (Flocculation, 2003). We are reminded by the artist that small wonders are often unperceived. |
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To distil or to extract? To remove until what remains is pure in substance.Bacchus saw the fruits of harvest act as tranquiliser, sedative, stimulant and intoxicant. The nectar that Plato warned against later became Blood-of-Christ and was kissed to sooth life's drudgery. At one time it was believed to counteract senility. Al Kuhul, as referred to in Arabia, served as wages in industrial times but temperance put a stop to that giving birth to crime and prohibition, of which the latter could not continue. Engaged in his own aestheticsThe apparent presence of illegal substance is a playful edge. His work, rich with subversion is sheltered in an aesthetic defence. It generates musings about the industrial product, about bootlegger families turned into financial empires of the moment or the right to make or grow substance for personal use. |
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