Intermedia
June-July 2018
Indiana University Southeast Barr Gallery
This installation was part of the Summer in Three Dimensions show and was a story.
This piece uses a favorite childhood activity (fishing) to create a scenario that different people may read differently. In both readings of the piece, the large number of wax bait is seen swarming around the cast bobbers. The bait is a mixture of crickets and long and small worms in both brown wax and beeswax. For the bobbers there are 6 in total, four are painted to look like a standard bobber, one that is painted black and set off from the rest of the bobbers, and one that is clear resin set slightly off from the rest of the bobbers.
In one case, the more positive reading, the piece could be taken that the bait is rising up against the fisherman and swarming the bobbers to stop the fisherman from being able to fish. In this reading, the black bobber represents the defeat of a bobber and the clear represents a bobber that came to the side of the bait.
On the other hand, the reverse could also be interpreted from the piece. In the reverse, the bait could be seen as swarming and trying to defeat each other to try and get to the bobber so they can be used as bait. In this reading, the clear bobber represents a figure that is warning the bait not to continue on but is being ignored and the black bobber represents a temptress that is enticing the bait as the ultimate prize where they end up being used as bait.