Being a new mom-- my daughter was born on 21 January, this year-- has put the show in perspective for me in more ways than one... First, my progress with executing work is far slower than I ever imagined or predicted. Second, the content-- the work I proposed for this show touches upon my ideals and exposes my concerns related to politics, human nature, and being a citizen.
I'll explain more about content in upcoming posts. For now, the proposal in a nutshell was this: The Age of Revolution will be an outdoor exhibition of text based drawings on the site of Side Street Projects. The drawings, based on poetic recombinations of book titles found at a public library, will be made of durable industrial materials commonly used in outdoor applications: plastic tarps and metal grommets.
Here are some examples of drawings I've done using tarps and grommets:
Cost Cuts, 2007-- I was appalled, as I think many people were, by decision-- early on in the war in Iraq not to provide proper body armour to soldiers.
Work's Killing Me, 2007-- I think the text (the title is hammered into the tarp with grommets-- it's hard to read because of the camouflage) and the choice of camouflage tarp is pretty obvious. I'm in no way trying to be flippant with this work. I'm impressed by those who serve in the military, in particular the soldiers on the ground whose lives are on the line every day. I think it's an understatement to say being a soldier is a dangerous job.
