The Pastoral Concert
2019
Ceramic vase, paper clips, rubber bands, coins, batteries, plinth
110 x 50 x 150cm
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2019
Ceramic vase, paper clips, rubber bands, coins, batteries, plinth
110 x 50 x 150cm
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.
