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Photo and sound installation, Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, 2006.
Framed gelatin silver and C-prints, mixed media, sounds of men breathing
Spring brings together three elements: 12 closeup photographs of plum blossoms; a 12-image grid made of closeups of testicles; and the sounds of 12 men breathing, gasping, and panting. You are a bee. Or a bird. A sub-title for the piece could have been Three Dozen Encounters for the Birds and Bees.
The visual and aural elements in the show are bound together by an anxiety of fecundity, the narrative of the show located in a world of heightened perception. It's spring. The plum blossoms open, waiting to be pollinated. Symplegades, the testicle grid, is named after the clashing rocks that Jason and the Argonauts had to navigate in their quest for the Golden Fleece. The speakers, each playing the sound of a man breathing, resemble flowers sprouting from the gallery floor. One breath repeats endlessly, the exhalation of my lover Manny, who died in 1992.
Getting close is something I try to do. My nose is right there in the flowers. My buzzing around has produced these works. I hope you enjoy them.
Spring
Installation view, l-r: Untitled (Plum Blossoms) #8, 6 & 9, chromogenic development prints, 30" x 30" each
Spring
Installation view, l-r: Untitled (Plum Blossoms) #8, 6, 9, 7, 5 & 1, chromogenic development prints, 30" x 30" each
Spring
Installation view, l-r: Untitled (Plum Blossoms) #10, 11 & 12, chromogenic development prints, 30" x 30" each; and Symplegades, 12 framed gelatin silver prints, 51.5" x 69" installed
Spring
Installation view, l-r: Symplegades, 12 framed gelatin silver prints, 51.5" x 69" installed; and Out of Breath, speakers, cd players, sounds of men breathing, dimensions variable
Spring
Out of Breath, speakers, cd players, sounds of men breathing, dimensions variable
Spring
Installation view, l-r: Out of Breath, speakers, cd players, sounds of men breathing, dimensions variable; and Untitled (#3), 4 images, each 2.25" x 2.25" printed on one gelatin silver paper, 11" x 11" framed
Spring
Untitled (#3), 4 images, each 2.25" x 2.25" printed on one gelatin silver paper, 11" x 11" framed