2011
Glass, Silicone, Plywood, MDF
130 x 55 x 22 cm

The Hyacinth Girl expands upon the conceptual framework initially explored in the sculpture Even a Velvet Rope Can Leave Its Rope Burns, employing the architectural structure of a window to raise questions about the nature of artistic interpretation. In The Hyacinth Girl, though, instead of permitting a view through the sculpture, the ‘window’ is mounted on a sheet of black wood. The dark background increases the glass’s reflectivity, and the glass panel, roughly the size and shape of a wall mirror, reveals the figure of the viewer. The double-paneled glass, set slightly away from the background, creates a sense of depth that complicates the reflection, both blurring it and giving the impression that the viewer is looking into the sculpture. The implication, that to contemplate art is to find ourselves within it, has a darker correlate: outward vision is illusory. And yet the title, The Hyacinth Girl, refers to one of the few figures of hope and beauty depicted in the desiccated and sinister Europe of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. It suggests that the inherently introspective act of interpreting a work of art is not only productive but perhaps one of the only sincerely positive interactions possible in our culture.

Text by Amanda DeMarco