Bacon's Not the Only Thing That Is Cured by Hanging from a String

2011

Geoffrey Farmer

(Canadian, b. 1967)

Canada, 21st century

printed material, wood, metal, paint, tape, foam, fabric, computer programmed LEDs

Part 1: 245.1 x 45.7 x 58.4 cm (96 1/2 x 18 x 23 in.); Part 2: 245.1 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm (96 1/2 x 18 x 18 in.)

Sundry Art-Contemporary Fund 2011.33

Location: not on view

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Description

Geoffrey Farmer equates sculpture with photography in that the latter has impacted society as an influential visual record of social and cultural events. In this piece, cut-out images from vintage issues of LIFE magazine dangle freely, curing in a darkroom, inviting open-ended metaphors and narratives in the interplay with other found objects. In addition, subtle light effects in this work emphasize another aspect of the medium of sculpture—its inherent theatrical nature. Illuminated lamp posts evoke an urban street corner where people connect and intersect, imagined here in an intimate and magical nocturnal moment. The title also refers to photography, as evidenced in Susan Sontag’s popular book On Photography: to hang something is to make it visible.