The Fishes
Two antique silver plates that have been altered, through saw piercing patterns and elevating patterns from their forms, using motifs derived from the poetry of Nick Cave (Australian performing artist and writer.) The motifs within these pieces conflict with one another in an attempt to together represent the sacred/profane syzygy that is ever-present in Cave’s writings. Within these works the “Cavian world”1 is given sculptural form, and the interplay of his metaphors are explored. The darker of the two is based on the song O’Malleys Bar; a murderous tale that comes with a sliver of mercy in the redeeming motif of “Saint Francis and his swallows” 2, while its counterpoint is drawn from another, Breathless; a sweet and richly metaphoric love song that includes its requisite point of darkness; a reminder of the authors mortality in his “juddering bones”3.
1 Nick Cave in an interview with Dave Graney and Elizabeth McCarthy, RRR Radio, 1/11/2011, http://www.rrr.org.au/programs/archive/
2 O’Malleys Bar. Nick Cave, 1996. From the album Murder Ballads, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
3 Breathless, Nick Cave, 2004. From the album The Lyre of Orpheus, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Year2011 MediumAntique 800 silver platter, stainless steel. Dimensions250 x 100 x 40mm Editionaltered plate and pendant SeriesRecycled Series
