Saturday 15 September 2007

Appropriations Committee

What are you supposed to do when you are walking down the street and you see an object that is not existing as a "work of art" that so perfectly embodies alot of the ideas you are working on and drawing furiously every day?
This happened to me today and I am afraid that I cannot disclose the exact location of the near epiphaney. Suffice it to say that the object in question was an outcropping of the physical plant of a hospital. I cannot say whether or not the person or persons responsable for this object designed it as an artistc expression. Where they the low men on the totem pole who designed this last detail or did the architect draw every element of the building? Come to think of it, was it even part of the building it seemed to be connected to? Aesthetically speaking probably not. Maybe it really was just a case of two pipes popping out of the ground needing to be protected by a cage. Their form and color probably correspond to the codes and necessities of the physical plant system of the hospital.
In any case the junction of these elements for whatever practical reasons also happened to be a fantastic expression of my current work, its form and colors responding perfectly to the codes and idioms of my work.
The question is: do I tweek and copy this object in my studio and sign it and then show it or do I sign the pre- existing object in situ?
One man's building specs are another man's sculpture.
I am influenced by Oliver Sacks autobiography wherein he describes the creation and elaboration of the periodic table as well as Marie Curie's work. In the process of elucidating unknown elements hunches are followed. For instance, it seemed clear to M that between certain elements there must exist other ones and these suppositions often became true. When I see an object that epitomises hunches and fits right in between two pre-existing works my attitude is to insert it. After all, I don't sign anything . . .
Perhaps my body of work is a collection that needs to be opened up to other artists in order to be complete?