5 Words 2007

Description

The letters in W-A-S-T-E are containers covered in white mesh, filled with white discarded materials and objects. They are spaced on the floor so that the viewer can walk around them. W-O-M-A-N is spelled with 2’ high by 10’ long white candle letters. W-O-U-N-D is cut through drywall. A white bench contains plexiglass filled with salt and books that spell out W-I-S-D-O-M. The word W-A-R is spelled with rope light letters that can be seen hanging out the window to the right of the elevator.

Artist Statement

I wanted to work with one letter and kept writing strings of words. I could have ended up with the letter, “c” or “t” or anything but eventually I picked “w”, I thought I could deal with the issues, I was interested in through these words at this time. Everything is white because I didn’t want colors to interfere with the conceptual process. I wanted to make something compelling. I could have portrayed waste as a messy, repelling thing but I wanted the experience to be subtle where it unfolds and takes more time to understand. I think that attention spans are too short these days and artists need to have strategies to compete or combat this. I am also interested in how a word can become architecture, exploring that idea. Where I come from in India, we save everything, everything is re-used. The logic of capitalism is to have more, to have excess and therefore also to create more waste.