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| Monoblock, 2003, newsprint paper, 93 x 73 cm |
The obituary pages of several newspapers are presented on the wall, layered one on the other. All text has been removed, rendering the pages into abstract grids with crosses and crucifixes above vacant spaces.
Out of context these symbols stand obsolete, yet redolent in meaning and mystery. The gaps speak mutely of lives lived and lost, families grieving, funerals held.
The focus here is on the mundanity of 'everyday' newspaper obituaries. Passed through looking for the arts section or the classifieds, they are a cataloging of death; the brutal fact of mortality carefully contained, hidden in the back.
Here framed, no longer displaying 'only' strangers, we can imagine the deaths of our own family members, friends - even ourselves - succinctly described and placed beneath a religious symbol, neatly packaged, soon to be yesterday's news.
Featured in the exhibition All of This and Nothing at Hammer Gallery, Los Angeles.
Featured in the exhibition All of This and Nothing at Hammer Gallery, Los Angeles.
