Tropism II, 1995/96
Frances Whitehead
Tropism II, 1995/96
Saturnid moths (Automerisio, Actias luna, Antheraea polyphemus), acrylic
paint, water color, shellac, marker on floor, stainless steel columns, steel,
glass lens.
This work draws the viewer into a space between nature and art, between
illusion and substance, between perception and conception. First one takes
in the quiet rationality of steel geometric columns in a dimmly lit space.
The geometry continues on the floor in concentric circles of apparently
inlaid steel expanding out from each column and meeting in an elaborate
design in the center of the floor. The circular area immediately around
each column is stained in earthy color with shellac and contains what appears
to be abstract patterns flowing with the circular shape. At some point the
viewer recognizes that these patterns become perfectly shaped images of
moths in their reflections on the steel columns. There is both a perceptual
metamorphosis and reference to the moth's genesis. The mysterious space
keeps drawing the viewer in with promises of more revelations, entrancing
one as a moth is with a flame. The theme of seduction, which informs all
the work in this exhibition, is strong here. There is the engaging beauty
of the color patterns becoming illusion, and the fascinating beauty of the
natural object. Only after entering the space and turning around does one
see on the back wall specimens of the three moths mounted in glass, with
the central luna moth beneath a magnifying lens. Again one is drawn in,
this time into an intimate, almost interior space, of examining the beauty
of these metaphorical creatures. There is a continuous echo between the
shiny round geometric forms, whether the glass discs or the steel columns.
and the earthy warm natural forms of the actual moths, the caterpillar like
abstracted forms on the floor, and the reflected images on the columns.
Viewing becomes an expansive and contractive experience as ones perception
shifts from the moths to the images to the overall aethetic environment
Whitehead has created.
