Monday, July 26, 2010
Pleasure Garden
Candace Nicol and Jeanne Voltura
4-color etching/gold relief with glitter embossment
Rives BFK white
10”W x 20”H
When I received Jeanne’s linoleum plate of the two women, I was inspired by what we have been discussing all along – the dichotomy of surface pleasures perpetuated in the gaming industry and the rawness of actual life in Nevada; the schema of rugged rurality, conservatism, and religious beliefs. When I started to really think about the image, what kept popping into my mind were the gaudy carpets that Casinos place in their establishments. I thought, “I’m going to place a sampling of one of these carpets in this piece.” I started researching the different carpets and in the end chose the carpet from Atlantis: 1- It’s my favorite casino to go and eat at; and 2- It has a jungle theme, so immediately I was thinking how opposed that is to the Nevada landscape and how it eludes to the original sin which is inspired by the two figures that Jeanne carved out.
When Jeanne saw the finished piece, she wrote to me:
“I like to try to come up with titles ...you have me thinking about the garden idea in the statement you made when you were talking about your ideas...could call it Glitter Garden...also ties to rural life...could call it Golden Garden...or Gold Sparkle Garden...Golden Idle (Idol...Idle means to not move, so its about going nowhere...).... Idle Glitter...Glitter Idol...Glitter Gone Wild...Republic of Glitter...Glitter State.... Glitter Valley...All that Glitters is not Gold...I could keep thinking of things...but here is my thinking...I like the word glitter...but really like your ideas...they need to be woven together in the title somehow...to drive the meaning home...I was also trying to use the notion of conservatism somehow in the title but its too heavy...really like thinking about the pleasure idea...how hotels/gaming create this excessive, non-existent utopia within their establishments...how much that is opposed to the realities of living life in this state...or how life in general is very different...the stripper is a male symbol for selfish pleasure...but the realities of actually being a stripper are quite different...or they can be...I am sure that women who are in the adult entertainment industry get a little more than burnt out working within that realm of providing pleasure for their livelihood...Pleasure Garden would be good too...Pick the Right One could say a bunch about choosing a lifestyle and also the excesses of casinos...like which girl should I choose to marry...when I was making the image the old cliché of thinking of the Madonna whore thing kept coming up in my mind...how men look for a woman that is virtuous but really deep down want her to be extremely sexual in the negative version of that word...also was thinking about the south and north being considered differently. I think that in my mind, I view Reno/Tahoe/Carson City as being represented by the good woman, and Las Vegas being represented by the stripper.
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