This coming season of excess has made me think about plenty, multiples and piles. Is it some ancient primal urge from times of scarcity that leads us humans to be so fascinated with multiples?
Many things create random patterns, leading the eyes to make more formal patterns of pebbles on a beach or piles of folded washing. You can clearly see this process in beautiful aboriginal paintings where multiples become formal, rhythmic pattern. Maybe our longing for multiplicity is simply an yearning towards order , the continuous human struggle against EM Foster's "Chaos and Emptiness"?
Sometimes art can emulate this feeling of wonder at many by isolating a single or a few. In this way the whole universe of pebbles on the beach can be ours through the delicate jewelery of Rebbecca Ward,
The mystery of a flock of ravens translated into a single bird by Sleeping Forest.
Or the luxury of a pile of knitted jumpers translated into porcelain by Alyssa Ettinger.
Amazing photos of odd piles of plenty by Tim Walker
1 comment:
thanks shannon!
we do love building collections of same and similar objects don't we. and then arranging them in particular ways to seduce others with our bounty of more than we need! i think it is a form of compulsive madness. It never leads to inner peace or contentment. But the process itself can be exciting, therapeutic, meaningful in a sensory way.
Tim Walker's photos are fantastic.
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