Friday, June 24, 2011

Making Things: The Pleasures of Poesis

My friend Frank McEntire is exhibiting a group of works called "reli-QUERY" in the Nox Contemporary Gallery in Salt Lake.


In a book published in conjunction with the one-man show, Frank has included an essay of mine called "The Other Side of the Limit. The book is titled "The Destructible Object and Other Essays: The Sculptural Work of Frank McEntire." It includes six essays and a lot of photos of Frank's work.


Below is the first page of my essay. To the right is a flagstone walk I laid on the north side of our house a couple of weeks ago.


Both the walkway and the essay are things I have made. Both constructions required concentration and some skill and considerable effort. Both have a form that wouldn't have existed without me. Both make me feel like I have done something, made something.

2 comments:

michael morrow said...

Let me tell you Scott, I been mulling this post since the day it was published...In fact I have been mulling it in conjunction with the barbed wire post. As I said, I find the division of property using barbed wire the subtle beginnings of the industrialization of humanity..

I love the Wittgenstein quote, "What can be said at all can be said clearly; and whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent." From the moment I read Making Things: The Pleasures of Poesis .... I felt my tongue thickening as if running-over with ideas and gagging my throat closed...I had to remain silent because I could not speak....(maybe one of the most important lessons gained from years spent with UVU mentors)

Living life with side-less limits, I am at a place where language has become very archaic...I mean, what the hell, lets communicate at the speed of thought....I dont want to speak unless spoken to from deep inside.....not bad news at all...I also feel out of place "making" art....

In conjunction with barb wired attempts at industrialization of life, mother earth continues to speaks to me....I resent her life choking industrialization using asphalt, concrete and other poisonous materials..So I spend time listening and watching for her narrative...she is far from silent,,..there are no limits as she strives to keep our planet-home livable.

As I was backing out of my concrete driveway onto the asphalt street I noticed mother's artistry screaming to me....I realized how I love to see driveways and streets attempting to keep life convenient, rut free, and especially WEED free....yessireee, there they were, lovely green heads sprouting up between every available crack..Just like barb wire's meager success to corral humanity, that is until the razor edges met up with hippies,,so weeds love expansion joints found at regular intervals of most concrete pads...and the noxious asphalt,,,I see weeds happily coming up through ever available crack they can find.

Does this language make or break limits? is this narrative the nonsense found on the other side of limits....Oh how I love making such connections and asking such questions.....clarity..could mother earth be more clear in her determination to not be thwarted in her desire to live...I think not...

michael morrow said...

I find your flag stone walkway very environmental friendly and appealing by-the-way...no doubt humankind is vital part of nature and will leave his mark. But lets meld with mother earth rather than kill her.