Are you Building an Ark?
Guadalupe, California 2008
Are You Building an Ark? was an exhibition in a former Masonic temple located on the central coast of California. It was the culmination of work from a yearlong artist residency located in an unusual coast town within a semi-rural landscape where American agribusiness meets oceanfront nature preserve. The primary language spoken in the town is Spanish and in fact, many of the first generation residents spoke no English at all. It resembles a border town, although it is several hours north and has no tourists. The 6000 square foot temple space allowed for four large installation works that combined found objects drawn from the local farm community, the nearly desolate stretch of beach and multiple local junkyards. The materials included wood, metal, junk, paint, animal decoys, bones, feathers, crystals, antlers, cloth, old garments, sand, glass, tin toys, books, gold leaf, a jungle gym, and Super 8 film projections. A series of bronze castings and drawings accompanied the exhibition. The works referenced wilderness, human relationships and the relationships between the human and the animal. The exhibition title came from the mouth of the building’s owner as he witnessed the outside landscape moving inside.