The Lift Propsel

Proposal : PCA Lift Gallery 

Deirdre Dowley February 27th - 16th March 2012 

False Idols : From Deity to Concept : The notion of the polemic.

PROPOSAL 

The Idealization of Popular American Culture

In this exploration I wish to bring together threads of previous work in which I have  used familiar objects and images which are symbolic of American Popular culture to explore its influence on the rest of the world. Part of this exploration will be looking at the image of the female form in this context and how it has made the journey from powerful Goddess to disempowered, objectified and air brushed object of lust (for many men) and oppressive aspiration for women. 

Fertility fecundity v Barby Bulimia

Goddess has been superseded, nature and survival replaced by the machine science and technology. 

Appeasement of the Gods and sacrifice to the elements has been replaced by a BIG sexy car sold to us by a scantily clad doll.

The Goddess bearing child has been exchanged for a false empty Goddess who wouldn't be able to bear a child because she has no hips or tits. We still have the sense of wanting to look outside ourselves but what we see is a  beautiful skinny perfect women or the sexy powerful car and we believe that these objects/commodities will give us the thing that is now missing. We think that these are now natural aspirations, we work for money and it is this that now feeds us, not nature.

I will be researching Popcorn as a symbol of something that started life holding spiritual meaning for the American Indians and which is now indicative of emptiness and the excess of the leisure/pleasure driven American Popular culture.

Alfred Stieglitz’s gelded horse in Spiritual America. 

Maria Sol Escobar Pop Artist.

The development of the Tin Lizzie, the Model T Ford and the assembly line.

The exploitation of Brook Shields by Brook Shields, her Mother, Gary Gross commercial photographer, Ford Model Agency and the American judicial system in relation to copyright law and ownership.

Richard Prince’s re appropriation of the original photograph of Brook Shields, displaying it anonymously in a non- commercial gallery in Manhattans lower eastside and re naming it Spiritual America.

And his collaboration with Sante D’Orazio on Spiritual America 2005 IV. Pop Life: Art in the Material World at the Tate Modern and censorship.

PLAN

Using a combination of found, purchased and made objects I would like to assemble a freestanding rubberized column. The central trunk will be assembled using recycled tyres laid on top of one another to a height of between 102x127cm. 

The column of tyres will be secured with 4 small blobs of silicone starting with the floor and applied to each level. This will help to secure and keep the column upright.

A fake platform with an electrical access hole cut out will sit inside the top of the tyre. Popcorn will appear to be spilling up and out of the column. The popcorn will be mixed with a solution of pva which will secure it into place. As the Popcorn rises out of the tyre I will then use a glue gun to secure it on the sides of the tyres.

An LED rope light will wind up from the floor around the connecting rims of the tyres and will finish and disappear into the river of Popcorn.

A fecund artificially ancient ceramic Goddess icon and a modern plastic blond Barby doll will be secured and placed in the bed of Popcorn.

The intention behind this set up is to add a voyeuristic element enabling the viewer to walk around the structure. 

REQUIREMENTS

The floor area required for the plinth will be 60cm x 60cm. It will also have to be positioned in such a way as to enable the audience to walk around it partially around it.

Location in the gallery :The ideal place in the Gallery is situated below the socket, which can be found high up on the wall. If you stand in front and facing the lift the wall directly to your left and the floor space in front of it would ideal. This would solve the problem of health and safety and it would avoid any loose floor wires. Also in this position the structure can be seen from above from the top of the stairs.

INSTALL/GET OUT

Assembling and disassembling the work will take up to 4 hours. 

All dust and any debris created will be cleared up as I go.

The area will be left safe, clean and object free.