The Pastoral Concert
2019
Ceramic vase, paper clips, rubber bands, coins, batteries, plinth
110 x 50 x 150cm
![]()
2019
Ceramic vase, paper clips, rubber bands, coins, batteries, plinth
110 x 50 x 150cm
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/450bbddcc437688cfc11a152b39ad0a38b4f8eb4279ffdd48ed8ffec8915f91e/IMG_9124-2.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8ea7b58f7bccf986034b670afccc472f8aa11590d094e6c0062ca22fc469c1d9/JPEG_2019_10_08_Dale_and_Claire_Portrait_0274.jpg)
A large, ornamental vase lies shattered on the floor below its pedestal, revealing its contents: an accumulation of household miscellany (coins, rubber bands, batteries, paper clips).
The vase, placed on a plinth for display, is both a symbol of of the achievements of the past, and a symbol of potential—as a container and as an object of value on display. Its contents belie its ambitions and status as an objet d’art—an item itself deserving of admiration.
In giving the vase a functional role, has its value been reduced, detracting from its role as an ideological object?
Perhaps the broken vase acts as a memento mori: a snapshot of a spent life, with the aspirations and idealism of youth, the ever-approaching moment of death, and the myriad compromises of adulthood.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/45e7bef2a3dad7b6d954f2eb0fa6ad7ff2e0ace3e8c56e763245717d55bf435e/IMG_8961.jpg)