ants

In the course of my travels I stumbled upon a log with great personality and charm. Into the flames ze went, to purify zir soul (and murder any bugs or grubs or worms that had taken up residence)! Then a lot of sandpapering and filing and chiselling. Then the ultimate step: hammer in the ants. Roughly 36 inches tall, from memory (too lazy to measure). It's a bit dusty at the base: I tried to clean it up but as you can see to little effect.

It's a visual pun, obviously, tacky or not. But there's something else quite weird going on, to do with the base. There's a ghost or shadow artwork lurking. By virtue of there being 'ants' on the base, the non-verbal suggestion is of ants crawling over an artwork depicting ants crawling over a log. If you catch my drift... It's the artwork intruding into the higher-dimensional framework in which it is embedded. Portrait of the artwork invading the 'meta-artwork'. Artwork heaped upon artwork.

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Ornery Owl of Naughty Netherworld Press and Readers Roost said...

That is so cool! It makes me think of how authentic Didjeridoos are made by a termite hollowing out a branch. Hammering in the ants must have been quite a meditative exercise.

masterymistery said...

ghostseeker, without wanting to sound too pompous, the whole thing from finding the log to varnishing the finished piece was a meditation. This is an artwork with whom I have a very close relationship. Thanks for your comments. Cheers,
MM