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21st Century Blues: Sculptures and Installations
February 2006

         

              

On a hazy Sunday in November of 2005 it started to rain in the Bywater for the first time since the twins. I sat in the middle of my yard and watched as the rain washed the dust from the air, from my house, and from me; as it washed clean the sheets of grime deposited by the winds, the floods, and the fires. A little afternoon rain reminds a person of the fogs in October, and the tears in September. I went in to the house and put Joni Mitchell on the record player. The power went out. I sat down to write. This sculpture became a way for me to sing the blues, those 21st century blues, the ones you’re not suppose to talk about.

My work responds to those questions, primarily unanswered, that every generation fails to answer. Why are we here? Why do we die? Why do we hurt each other?

I cannot claim to have resolved any of these questions in my sculpture. I can only say that this body of work is a reaction to the fact that I can never know the answers. No one can. And that may be the chief complaint. So maybe these are complaints not questions. What are the questions?

The Throne of Self Reflection asks you to do the impossible. The Looking Glass asks about the nature of curiosity and what happens when I forget not to pay attention. The Historians Garden is about knowledge and age. 20th Century Blues tries to question the way I think. The rabbits and the dog are about my sometimes uneasy relationship with teaching. The little theatres are about more questions. Each of the plays asks a great question: Why do we fight? Why do we love? Who does god think he is? Why do our leaders suck? What is my destiny? Can you ever truly see yourself? In the play, Waiting for Godot, two tramps wait for the arrival of an M. Godot that never comes. I guess that is the lesson that 2005 taught me. If you wait for the cavalry you might drown in your attic.

I hope that my sculptures in some way make you think or laugh.