Containing Life in Perpetual Spring

The Steampunk movement is gaining momentum, again. It conjures up a fantasy life before and during the industrial revolution, or is it to hold on to a life that is rapidly being taken away from us?

At the SOFA show on Park Avenue, New York last weekend a few artists caught my eye, they all had a similar theme, and completely different and equally compelling work. As a process they contained items, or ideas of life, in the spirit of curiosities. Giving them new meaning to us today in what we call a modern world, the artifacts become new again.











Containing the idea of jelly fish in stained glass, as seen above, by Steffen Dam, is a breathtaking example of modern curiosities, actually creating the jellyfish in glass, it is only the idea of contained life, but the the reality of it.








Kurita Koichi of Japan is documenting soil before it changes, his process is documented on his blog listed below. The image of the Soil Library above does not justify the power that Koichi is able to express in 150 different bottles of soil, all of different colors, all from Japan. It brings up the question: How many colors can you find in your back yard, and how have the color mutitated over the years, and how much more will they change in your lifetime?















Even the art of photography is playing on what is and what won't be in our fragile environment, documenting places before they become extinct. As done so exquisitely by Jefferson Hayman, for example in the photo above, Airship over the Village, as many of his photographs, modern in location, or context, reminds us of a world that is left behind and slipping away from us as we forge forward on the communication highway tirelessly as we forget to see and appreciate our surroundings.

As I walked across Central Park and contemplated this need for containment, need for holding on to what is so quickly slipping out of our grasp, I noticed how strong and resilient the plants are after a rain in the spring, they flourish and grow, even become more themselves. Life changes so drastically from moment to moment. At once we are suddenly able to overcome unsurmountable odds, not only to move forward, but to become ourselves more.

The flowers don't need to be contained, they need sun and water and to grow without bounds. I am drawing this connection simply because of it's stark contrast, with how we are perceiving life and how nature continues with or with out us as we navigate the planet. It is my hope that we continue to cherish the things of nature that slip out of our grasp as the artists have done so beautifully above, I hope that we put protection on our skin while in the sun so that we as well won't slip from ourselves too quickly, but most of all I wish that we find in life the water and sun that nourishes us after a heavy rain that makes us want to come out and play and become more ourselves again, whatever that might be..

for more information on the artists:
Steffan Dam Stained Glass http://www.damogkarlslundglas.dk/showpage.aspx?sideid=1
Kurita Koichi Soil Library: http://soillog.exblog.jp/i6/
Jefferson Hayman photography: http://www.jeffersonhayman.com