On “Treading on Sea, on Sky”: The Use of Repetition and Collection in Establishing a Metaphor For Circumscribed Routine
Repetitions are “illustrations of life situations many ordinary people will face or face
already.” – Rose, Barbara, “ABC Art [1965],15
Traces of our daily activities are left on the world around us without our
knowledge or intention. "Treading on Sea, on Sky" is the visual manifestation of those
traces. In this work, portions of photographs depicting water and sky taken in Robert
E. Lee Park in Baltimore city are taped to the soles of my shoes and worn out as I
attend to my day. The marks made from walking represent the traces my errands
leave on the environment. These routine errands are unconscious of the patterns and
effect I have on the landscape. The act of walking on water or air is a testament to the
arrogance of the artist, and references the god-like status as shaper of earth, of
creator. As an artist, I fashion the ability to walk on water – an absurd notion that, in
essence, answers to nothing but the passing of time despite its grand implications of
power. This work is a performance of repetition, underlining the routine and ordinary
nature of the action. This establishes a pattern of non-awareness on the part of the
artist to the marks being made, but also nods to the collective pattern of being
unaware as a culture. The inclusion of the ambiguous text in panels displayed with
the photographs allows each of the artist’s journeys to be anyone’s – they are specific yet vague. The collection and framing of these photographic remnants allow the
work to become a specimen or preserved memento, transforming simple treaded-on
snippets to precious reminders of travels. They are souvenirs of the mundane.
While Treading on Sea, on Sky contains an undercurrent of environmental
activism, it is first and foremost a collection of routines and the remnants of the
ephemerality of action. I believe that in experiencing the preciousness of the
collection of these photographs, there is potential to hint to the viewer that his or her
actions also leave fleeting marks on the world around him, on scales both large and
small. I strongly believe in the suggestiveness of a work as a catalyst for change. As
Alan Kaprow said in relation to his Happenings, “Power in art is not like that in a
nation or in big business. A picture never changed the price of eggs. But a picture can
change our dreams; and pictures may in time clarify our values. The power of artists
is precisely the influence they wield over the fantasies of their public.” This work is
not a lecture on the collective American arrogance, but perhaps it can nudge people to
notice what their actions mean day to day.
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