6/5/10

Thoughts on a Faded Ruffle by Brian Grison and others

Poor faded ruffle.  Since it's May 14th debut, the Ruffle has undergone a dramatic change.  In the constant rain the Ruffle has faded from a garishly girly pink, to a non colour, an indefinable white.  People at Laura Dutton's opening last night were only barely aware of the Ruffle at all.  The Ruffle is almost invisible now, almost non existent.  It's interesting to see a piece of art so vulnerable in this way.  To change colour over the course of several weeks, and therefore meaning is both problematic and fascinating at once.  The change of colour was not intentional, was, in fact, not even considered as a possibility.  And yet the change, the uncontrolled change is somehow satisfying and even spiritually evocative.  The Ruffle fulfilled it's life cycle. 

The following is an excerpt from an email in which Brian Grison discusses his thoughts on the Ruffle,


"I was not especially impressed by Ruffles. A ruffle refers, among other
things, to a particular kind of collar. However, when first viewing the
installation from the level of the parking lot, I immediately got the
distinct, and much more interestingly erotic, connotation of crinolines
and frilly girls' underwear - which I did not mind at all in my hidden
adolescent male soul. I remember how dedicated I was to looking up
girl's uniformed legs as they climbed the stairs ahead of me at private
Catholic grade school. If the nuns had known that my diligence to get
to class had more to do with being an eight year old peeping Tom, they
would have been shocked. I thought to myself that the installation
needed images of lovely female legs protruding below all that
frilliness, but I suppose that wasn't the artists intention. As a
matter fact, it was rather difficult to understand what the artist's
intention was. From up top, the ruffle was not as interesting - let
alone noticable - as the little fri
lly flower things that (I think)
held it in place; I liked them more than the frill itself. As a matter
back, the lumpy special spherical things on top of the railing were
even more interesting. They must have been intended more for anchoring
than formal or aesthetic purposes - but I quite liked their wonky,
perching personality. They even gave me ideas of other technical uses
an artist could make of that railing." - Brian Grison, art writer