#455 Pitchfork Address

I did this work by scraping with a pitchfork in the wet filler.

The pitchfork symbolises popular revolt against those in power, especially in the fight against capitalism, but also for populist groups on the right. Historically, it was farmers who used the tool during protests against landowners.

The stripes in the picture resemble the folds of a curtain. One of the curtain's functions is to regulate the visual transition between outside and inside. The window can be a metaphor for the junction between the inner linguistic experience and the outer, material reality. The curtain marks the boundary between the home, the private sphere, and the general public. It can signal security both to those looking out and those looking in. But perhaps it is through struggle and resistance that we establish a more authentic relationship with the outside world? Where we don't passively stay inside and observe but participate and actively shape our experience for ourselves and others.

Res Ipsa is a compilation of works made by an act shaping the filler once it is prepared inside the frame. The works thus function as a recording device and give a statement of the event taking place while the filler was still wet.

Res Ipsa is Latin for "the thing itself" and is part of the juridical term "Res ipsa loquitur" (the thing speaks for itself), used when an injury or accident in itself clearly shows who is responsible, such as an instrument left inside a body after surgery.