Specimen

Specimens are things that we collect as an example. However, the world has also come to suggest that the example is a particularly good one that is deserving of being collected. In this image, I have created a part natural and part artificial leaf. With spring just around the corner, I was contemplating what kind of photography I might do outside in the near future. However, that time is not upon us yet so I am still stuck with the house plants and other household objects. This one is a combination of a shower head with some calcification and a leaf from the lemon tree. The shower seemed appropriate because…well, “April showers bring May flowers.”  But the goal was to make an alien-plant that defies the duality of natural vs. artificial…or, things that belong outside vs. things that belong inside.
 
The rubber glove was a natural addition because I imagine one might wear gloves when handling particularly unique, valuable, or delicate specimens.  However, I thought that maybe it should be torn suggesting that some difficult work was involved in collecting this object. It’s also covered in soap. Rubber gloves, as objects used to protect oneself from germs, relate to obsessive compulsive themes; therefore, I am surprised I have not put soap on them before.   However, I also imagine that there may be some decontamination procedures involved in collecting robot-leaf specimens.
 
As I have mentioned before, I like to use borders because to me they represent rules and limits  which relates them to the idea of play in some ways. I decided to put wingdings in the boarder again because they are playful as well…and, once again, the viewer can choose to interact with the work by deciphering the writing. This time I was much more careful about how the wingdings lined up in relation to the corners and edges—emphasizing their formal function.   On the other hand, I didn’t have anything particularly important that I needed to be written so it seemed their role in terms of content was reduced. Maybe it’s because I mentioned Picasso in my last image, but this made me reflect on the synthetic phase of Cubism where Picasso and Braque were, more or less, just playing with the cubist themes and languages in decorative and formal ways and not really advancing the concept much further. Perhaps this image marks the synthetic phase of my Wingdings art. Now, in my synthetic period, the Wingdings have devolved into a purely decorative element; therefore, they no longer add meaning to the image.