Why Tombs?

Object + time – facts = Fascination (mystery + curiosity)

There is something about old things.  Old things that show their age.  Old things that once had life.  Old things that have a story – but not the whole story, or even the correct one. It’s the mystery of archeology that is so compelling; it presents a frosty window into a time and world not our own.

What is the object above? A naturally occurring geologic growth? A horn of an unknown animal? A manmade sculpture? It's these kind of possibilities, not necessarily the facts given, that I try to convey in  my own work.

My masters thesis project, Monument, operated this way.  I had the idea of the story behind the Stonehenge-like installation, but I didn't talk about it much and let the audience try to piece together the implied story.

This man was the central figure in the stone circle.  One could then assume that the rest of the images – collections of sometimes disparate objects – had to do with him in some way.

But what did they mean? The behind-the-scenes answer was that the main character was some sort of soldier or assassin, and the objects were somehow representative of vanquished foes.  But some were more obvious than others:

For example, how would a stained rag and a fried locust represent an enemy? Sometimes, even I didn't have all the answers, but the mystery created a dialogue with the viewer.

For TOMBS, I intend to use these very tools to engage the audience.  Each tomb will be about a particular person, and piecing together the material clues will be part of the fun.

And in keeping with the mystery, here's a sneak-peek at a detail of one of the tombs in progress:

Introduction

Earlier this year, I was awarded a material needs grant from ArtsWorcester to complete new work. In the call for proposals, this question was posed to the applicants:

“What work would you create if you didn’t have to worry about the cost of supplies?” 

Not my studio, thankfully

Creativity is an enigmatic and sometimes frustrating thing. The cost of oil paint was not stopping me from doing the kind of work I really want to do. But that question removed a mental barrier and opened up possibilities I hadn’t considered. 

 I immediately then started formulating the idea for what would become TOMBS. Here is an excerpt of the project from my proposal:

"TOMBS is an exploration of archeology, storytelling and mystery. There will be 4 oil paintings that explore the burial of a particular person. 

"Each tomb, like an archeological find, will give clues about the person’s life, yet it will retain mystery about specifics. It will allow for the audience to assume the roll of archeologist and discover who the person may have been."

"Oh, rats..."

When I was working on my Master’s thesis in grad school, I blogged my progress.  I found this exercise helpful on many levels; I was able to look at my own work objectively, and it also helped me zero in on what exactly I was shooting for.  

"Monument," my Master's thesis project completed in 2009 

Since TOMBS is my biggest undertaking since then, I decided to start another blog.

I’ll be documenting my progress and talking about approach, materials, resources, inspiration, and anything else that pertains to the making of TOMBS.  

I know I’ll get a lot out of the process, but I’m hoping that others will find it at least a little illuminating.