Artist Statement Unusual Ground
Egg shells: white, small, a texture that is barely perceptible to the touch, gentle contours, what an ideal surface on which to draw! The question to contemplate concerns context or subject matter. What will be the images that cover such an extraordinary surface?
The egg must be prepared before it can be drawn upon. Here is where the process begins. Eggs will rot if kept at room temperature too long. The smell is overpowering. There is a way to clean them out. If the shell is pierced at both ends it is possible to extract the white and the yoke by applying air to one end. Once emptied the shell can be cleaned and dried and used as a ground for media.
Instinctively, I knew that if the shell were not prepared properly any invasion would crack it severely and render it useless. A piece of scotch tape is applied at both ends this reinforces the egg. A small sewing needle was perfect to penetrate the shell creating a hole with as little intrusion as possible. Now the hole must be bigger. A nail! A nail is employed to purposefully chip away at the edges of the hole in order to make the holes larger without cracking the complete shell. Now some of the white begins to exude from the orifice. The yoke will be too big to go through the opening. A toothpick is just the thing to break the yoke. It must be stirred in order to create a mixture thin enough to pass through the small opening. My lips pressed against the white surface, no longer pristine. I begin gently blowing; the insides of the egg begin to flow. Blaggh! This is really visceral. What am I doing? Suddenly, I feel very guilty.
What I am doing is very disturbing. Continuing to extract the insides of the eggs becomes almost unbearable - very uncomfortable. It's like performing an abortion! Because of the gut wrenching discomfort a concept was realized and experienced. First documentation had to be initiated. The video camera was set up, operation tools arranged, and gloves donned the artist’s hands.
Water running and disposal grinding, the precious contents of the once fertile eggs were indiscriminately disposed. But not without a conscience or a care. The purpose of the project was clear; it will be a social piece - anti abortion - but not something that screams "In your face" blood, pelvic, baby fetuses......
Perhaps poetic, metaphoric, iconographic.... "The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung". Sir Walter Scott. Abortion could be the ultimate selfishness. It could be avarice and want of feeling. Abortion is done to women; it could be against humanity. Children are the trees the mighty oaks to be saved. Are they, children, something to be erased and swepted away? Dealt with by nameless, and faceless doctors using sharp tools that RIP living flesh from a warm and comfortable shell to which it clings?
This uncomfortable, gut tearing, visceral springboard was the inspiration for this piece. Images of doctors with masked faces began to inculcate onto my brain. What bird is considered vain and dirty? A peacock is a symbol of worldly pride and vanity. A skeleton juxtaposed with an old-fashioned typewriter eraser; perfect. An image of a doll whose mouth is rendered to resemble the vaginal opening caught by a fishhook. The body hangs unnaturally stiff and still. The image is accompanied by hangers with "Lucky Penny" inscribed and etched into the eggshell. Lucky Penny.....Pennyroyal, an herb used thousands of years ago by women who wished to abort their offspring. The herb apparently opens the cervix and allows bleeding. Such a beautiful plant. Its toxicity can and has caused deaths when its use was abused.
Death, when it meets real life is carried away in a coffin; often associated with a pine box or a lead lined box. No white satin for these hollowed out vessels; black velvet will cushion the violated and decorated containers of message imagery. The velvet must be dipped in glue and molded into an egg carton container until it dries imprinting the contours of the mold. Here the hollow canvases will rest. The box pine is covered with soft aluminum sheeting. The box should be exactly the same width and height as the egg container. Two handles on either side of the box remind the viewer that this could be a coffin. The remainders of the tape, pierced through, wear yoke and white stains, and reside in one of the empty egg sockets. The needle, nail and toothpick are housed in a neighboring socket.
This visualization includes all. It attempts to inform firmly, intelligently. It is not without the wit and biting sarcasm, and didacticism that all my work seems to have. Along with the underlying feminist view that the issues are patriarchal at the core. This is after all MY WORK.
brewartist
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