fire fire

To be honest this was not done for the intention of the contemporary ritual assignment. This is really a trial for a larger sculpture that I am working on.

In the long fun I am working towards having sculptural forms of flexible pipe that swim in and out of the water. Beneath the water they work like the images bellow, showing a shadow of the shape as the gas bubbles to the surface. As they brake the surface though the true shape is defined showing the articulated form of sculpture.

As you can tell this pipe dream is still a long way off but this incarnation is still interesting and will probably be used this year.

Back to the assignment though....

When I initially contemplated this assignment I was interested in showing the grit of real life.

I wanted to follow the style of Nan Goldin producing work perhaps not particularly interesting for its photographic qualities but highly emotive due to the intimacy.

Looking back at the previous sets (fat man and Ro guitar) of images I started thinking hell I don't really have anything to say here.

Yes after reading about this style of image it did tickle my fancy and yes perhaps in a different situation I would be able to produce the evocative content I had hoped for.

The critical thing though is being in the right place at the right time.

For these images to work they need to be real. Staging will destroy the integrity and further more the cripple intimacy that this style of image relies on to work.

That is not to say I will not continue to dabble here. I still have ideas I want to play with regarding the ritual of the urinal. But I will also focus some attention on rituals relating fire dance.

For over a decade I have been obsessed (perhaps to an unhealthy level) with fire art.

The major addiction no doubt would be the adrenalin. Fire taps into some very powerful emotions. Further having an audience undoubtedly was part of the rush although for years I avoided it focusing instead on the pure object manipulation. This alone does not justify the obsession though, it is also the mediative qualities that hooked me. Any activity that you can loose your self in is akin to meditation and dance perhaps the most powerful of all.

It can defiantly take one to some very interesting places.

As a ritual it has some highly important functions, an act of display is unarguable the first and foremost function. From the sleazy bars full of 20 somethings hopping around to pop music to the health nuts doing their "contact improvisation" it fulfills the same functions. It is clearly used to displays the body and entice potential "mates". This it does this with some precision, for example styles of dance help define social groups and from there define the individual and their values and cultural heritage.

It also defines age very strongly. Anyone watching there parents dance will see how distinct the styles are over even a single generation.

Anyway I am starting to digress and further as it is 4pm friday.

After this week it is defiantly time for a beer!