the Dream, 1993
Frances Whitehead
Left: the Dream (veil)
Right: Clotho, Lechesis, Atropa: (swag)
pine rosin dissolving in laurel oil, steel, glass, zinc (for both works).
Left: Desire: (equivalent crown and equivalent standard)
Right: Desire: (mantel) & (pistils and stamens)
laurel (Laurus nobilis) topiaries, glass, galvanized steel and cast
iron.
laurel leaves (Laurus nobilis), linen, galvanized steel, cast iron.
&
laurel oil, glass, galvanized steel, cast iron.
Left: Enfleurage of Deadly Nightshade
Right: Deadly Nightshade Jam
Lard flavored with perfume of Sacred Datura (Datura meteloides), glass,
galvanized steel shelf.
Mixed nightshade berries (Solanum nigrum and Solanum dulcamara), sugar,
glass,
galvanized steel shelf.
Left: Split Root Mass
Right: FATE(s)
roots, dirt, glass, galvanized steel shelf.
deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) (dormant), glass, galvanized steel
shelf, cast iron.
The Dream begins its seduction before one enters the gallery. A slightly sweet
exotic aroma is the first sensation experienced. The enchanctment is magnified
intensely as one first glimpses the glowing amber of the Dream (veil).
Its warm radiating beauty literally shimmers. As it draws you in, it begins to
engage the intellect as well. With the perception of the amber puddle growing
on the floor beneath it, one contemplates the process which is underway.. As the
veil is examined an awareness arises that a liquid seems to be running slowly
through the rosin and and is subtly draining the color. The source of this is
discovered above the veil where a glass vial of laurel oil is suspended in a lily
shaped steel holder. There is an entrancing beauty in the process of dissolution.
Thoughts of dematerialization lead to the consideration of both mortality and
spiritual transcendence. Death is a preponderant theme throughout this work; not
the aggressive, violent, phallic death we are constantly bombarded with in our
culture, but a seductive, embracing feminine death. The seductive and aromatic
blanket of fumes that one first encounters is reinforced by the warm glowing,
yet dark atmosphere of the gallery space. Bracketed between the amber veil of
the Dream and the horizontal swag of Clotho, Lechesis, Atropa are
the three elements of Desire (the antithesis to death according to Tennessee
Williams), the alluring jars of Deadly Nightshade Jam, the bottles containing
Enfleurage of Deadly Nightshade, decanters of Absolutes and Concretes,
the Fates, and Split Root Mass. Everything seems to be glass and silver,
pink and amber. Lilies, the sign of ressurrection and thus always associated with
funerals, appear again and again. That which takes life has been made seductive
and beautiful, while that which provides it (pistils and stamens; roots, and the
harboring flower pots), have been made sterile and rendered functionless. Even
the perfumes of the Absolutes and Concretes have been sealed in glass while
the air is perfumed with the sweeet, yet toxic fumes of the rosin dissolving in
the laurel oil. The aesthtic tension between the lovely and the morbid in this
work most clearly echos the fascination with the femme fatale which resonated
through the final decade of the last century.