‘Plastic Is This Zombie Medium’

Darling’s “March of the Valedictorians,” on display in the Arsenale during the 2019 Venice Bienale. Credit… Laura Chiesa/Pacific Press, via Alamy. [New York Times caption and illustration]

Verse can have visual ramifications as well as verbal ones. Text commandeers white space on the page in one-off patterns reflecting a close collaboration between author and typographer. The ensemble is larger than the words which are its literal medium. The reader-viewer is granted leeway to court speculation and draw bespoke conclusions as to what they mean.

I’m emboldened to invert the analogy and call Jesse Darling’s lofty chairs a visual poem. I get a kick out of the Turner Prize laureate’s “March of the Valedictorians,” not least for its title, but also for its send-up of the hard-charging achiever class by a salutatorian wit.

[Darling] learned how to weld and began creating his found-object installations, guided by associations he made between the materials and their historical and economic contexts… “Plastic is this zombie medium,” he said, because it does not decompose and is made from fossil fuels derived of dead organic matter. “Steel is a technology of empire that enabled guns, the colonial project.”

(Thomas Rogers, “He Won the Turner Prize. But Does He Still Want to Be an Artist?” New York Times, 6-6-24)

(c) 2024 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

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About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.
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7 Responses to ‘Plastic Is This Zombie Medium’

  1. GP's avatar GP says:

    Not for me.

    Liked by 3 people

    • JMN's avatar JMN says:

      “Hi-ho alas, lack-a-day.” That phrase is from an old song your comment triggered in my head — “But Not for Me.” I Googled it and it turns out to have been written by Chet Baker, a trumpet player I admire. Thanks for visiting and commenting, GP.

      Liked by 2 people

  2. Alberto Giacometti meets Jeff Koons…

    Great movie, (banned,) if you can avail yourself of a copy, Robert Hughes, “The Mona Lisa Curse.” Sums up my feelings about “celebrity artists,” contemporary art, the so-called “Turner Prize,” nepotism, galleries and auction houses, and the unregulated art market… f*ck art, gimme money, money, money.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. I really like this sculpture – using ubiquitous red plastic chairs and subverting them into something ominous just by extending their legs. It’s witty and clever – including the title!

    Liked by 2 people

    • JMN's avatar JMN says:

      I’m glad your reading of it concurs with mine, Sue. It triggers amusement if nothing else. The assemblage is dark and zany and somehow ominous, and also impudent and irreverent! I assume the unfinished plywood walls of the enclosure are an intentional touch in the piece’s presentation. What’s not to like! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

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