"God's ear wax." Large sculpture for public space. Multiple media. Conceived 2004/2011. Janice Perry. B. 1950. USA.
The sculpture is comprised of an extremely large ball of wax (with a very high melting point), 100-500 feet in diameter, dark golden brown in color. Many natural objects are embedded in the wax—leaves and branches from various trees and plants; dirt, clay, rocks, minerals, precious and semi-precious gems from many different areas of the world; skin, hair, teeth, feathers, scales, and bones from animals and fish of various species and ages (skunk, deer, elephant, frog, horse, manatee, crab, crocodile, snake, human baby skeleton and other human bones, etc.).
Also embedded are various technological implements ranging from early to modern—papyrus, broken pencils, pens, broken machinery like pieces from typewriters, computer motherboards and monitors from different eras, broken appliances, used automobile parts, old farming implements from simple hoes and scythes to tractor parts, pieces of furniture, industrial machinery, artificial limbs, robotic dogs, etc. As well, various literary, scientific, religious, philosophical and anthropological objects from many cultures and languages (books, icons, instruments, etc), musical instruments (the lid of a grand piano, cello strings, drum kit, etc), and objets d’arts.
The sculpture will be exhibited in a large enclosed space, for example the Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern, or a hanger at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, or—and this is preferable, in an large outdoor public space—for example in Wall Street in New York or the Boerseplatz in Frankfurt, on a runway at Templehof, in the grassy area in front of the Eiffel Tower, or inside Rome’s Coliseum.
The public can be invited to make contributions of objects to be embedded in the sculpture.
The sculpture should be large enough to be overwhelming. It will be bumpy and roughly circular in shape, but not smooth and round. Some objects are deeply embedded and not visible to the viewer. Some will be on the surface, some half-submerged in the wax. A concession to the concept of practicality would be to build a large interior frame that would then be covered in wax.
Indoor space affords better protection of the wax from the elements, but the interaction and layering over time of sun, rain, wind, hail, dirt and dust, ice and snow, and vandalism on the sculpture could also have desirable effects in producing unexpected shapes and increased rates of decay on the sculpture.
"God's ear wax." Large sculpture for public space. Multiple media. Conceived 2004/2011. Janice Perry. B. 1950. USA.
The sculpture is comprised of an extremely large ball of wax (with a very high melting point), 100-500 feet in diameter, dark golden brown in color. Many natural objects are embedded in the wax—leaves and branches from various trees and plants; dirt, clay, rocks, minerals, precious and semi-precious gems from many different areas of the world; skin, hair, teeth, feathers, scales, and bones from animals and fish of various species and ages (skunk, deer, elephant, frog, horse, manatee, crab, crocodile, snake, human baby skeleton and other human bones, etc.).
Also embedded are various technological implements ranging from early to modern—papyrus, broken pencils, pens, broken machinery like pieces from typewriters, computer motherboards and monitors from different eras, broken appliances, used automobile parts, old farming implements from simple hoes and scythes to tractor parts, pieces of furniture, industrial machinery, artificial limbs, robotic dogs, etc. As well, various literary, scientific, religious, philosophical and anthropological objects from many cultures and languages (books, icons, instruments, etc), musical instruments (the lid of a grand piano, cello strings, drum kit, etc), and objets d’arts.
The sculpture will be exhibited in a large enclosed space, for example the Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern, or a hanger at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, or—and this is preferable, in an large outdoor public space—for example in Wall Street in New York or the Boerseplatz in Frankfurt, on a runway at Templehof, in the grassy area in front of the Eiffel Tower, or inside Rome’s Coliseum.
The public can be invited to make contributions of objects to be embedded in the sculpture.
The sculpture should be large enough to be overwhelming. It will be bumpy and roughly circular in shape, but not smooth and round. Some objects are deeply embedded and not visible to the viewer. Some will be on the surface, some half-submerged in the wax. A concession to the concept of practicality would be to build a large interior frame that would then be covered in wax.
Indoor space affords better protection of the wax from the elements, but the interaction and layering over time of sun, rain, wind, hail, dirt and dust, ice and snow, and vandalism on the sculpture could also have desirable effects in producing unexpected shapes and increased rates of decay on the sculpture.