ROUTED/DETOUR
My artwork wrestles between the flawed societal desire - particularly of Western culture - to sustain that which is inherently unsustainable, and the insurmountable forces of nature.
I have subverted the meaning of a discarded DETOUR traffic sign to alert the viewer to our over-reliance as a society on the motor vehicle and its required infrastructure. Our cities are essentially carved out of a once-natural landscape, routing the environment with roadworks and development sites. What will happen when our earth becomes completely ROUTED due to our consumerist demands?
On the reverse of this street sign is a painting that captures Jimmie Durham’s sculpture ‘Still Life with Stone and Car’ (2004) in its gradual state of decay. A red 1999 model Ford Festiva crushed by a two-tonne quartz boulder now rests as an obstacle for vehicles on the Hickson Rd roundabout at Pottinger St. Durham said "this piece is concerned with monuments and monumentality, but also with nature; that implacable hard stuff.” To me Durham’s sculpture is a perfectly apt depiction of human progress ROUTED by nature.
