DISTENDED LODE the Aphasic Works
Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA 1996
collaborative installation with Lynne Hendrick
Distended Lode continues an on-going dialogue on the subject of the ever growing volumes of information and their storage as history moves forward.
On another level, it is yet another attempt, within the explorations of The Aphasic Works, at taking the lusciousness of knowledge away from the realm of pure intellect, and moving clumsily towards a more comfortable place.
DESCRIPTION:
DISTENDED LODE is made up of many books stripped to their basic elements of paper and print by the removal of their covers. They have been slathered with Vaseline before being completely sealed into a glass bookcase. Made of unstained or painted raw pine wood, this very simple custom-made bookcase has been similarly stripped down to its basics. Attached to the walls for support, as it has only one set of thin legs in the front, it becomes a part of the room as it traces the space by clinging to the walls and wrapping around corners.
The bottom of the bookcase is made of canvas, which swells with the weight of the overload of books stuffed inside, a commentary on the daunting endeavor of storing rapidly expanding volumes of information as history moves forward.
Vaseline, luscious as a medium, creates a beautiful effect through the saturation of color on the book spines. In addition, it is layered in meaning as it brings associations of healing, preservation, and toxic containment to the dialogue.