new work in progress
acrylic on wood and Sintra
currently on view at Ro2 Art, Dallas
section of installation Selected Memories
full scale paper model
this section approx. 8h x 10w x 3.5d feet
will be acrylic on Sintra and wood when complete
detail of full scale paper model for the installation Selected Memories
It will be acrylic on Sintra and wood when complete
detail of installation Selected Memories - work in progress
acrylic on Sintra and wood
Date: late 1950s
Indonesia, Papua Province (Irian Jaya), Omadesep village, Faretsj River region
The Asmat honored their dead with feasts and rituals, which both commemorated the deceased and reminded the living to avenge their deaths. The towering Asmat “bis” poles were made for these funeral feasts. The basic form of the bis is an openwork pole incorporating several ancestor figures and a winglike projection that represents the pole’s phallus.
In Asmat belief, no death was accidental. Each death was always caused by an enemy, either through headhunting raids or sorcery. Death created an imbalance in society, which the living had to correct by taking an enemy head. When a village had suffered a number of deaths, it would hold a bis ceremony, which consisted of a series of feasts held over several months. A number of bis poles were carved for the ceremony and displayed in front of the men’s house, where they formed the center of a mock battle between men and women. The poles were kept until a successful headhunt had been carried out and the balance restored. After a final feast, the Asmat abandoned the bis poles in the sago palm groves from which they obtained their primary food. As the poles decayed, their fertile supernatural power seeped into the earth and fertilized the sago trees.Metropolitan Museum of Art
A 2011 installation at Andrea Rosen by artist Matthew Ronay. (His website has a click-through 3D view of the same, or at least a similar, installation.)
I just read an interview with Ronay here.
McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas, Tx
photo courtesy Matthew Golden and McKinney Ave. Contemporary
irreversible change
acrylic on cedar roots and Sintra
McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas, Tx
irreversible change
acrylic on cedar tree roots and Sintra
McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
Irreversible change
acrylic on wood and Sintra
McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas until July 7
photo courtesy Matthew Golden and McKinney Ave. Contemporary
McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas until July 7
Sendai
acrylic on cedar and Sintra
52 x 44 x 19.5 inches
Pembina Highway
acrylic on Sintra and cedar tree roots
56.5H x 44W X 19.5D inches
at Mckinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas
thanks to everyone who came out to the opening - great night!
