“THE MEANING OF EVERYTHING” - Vyvyan Voleuse Have you ever wondered what art is? Have you ever fumbled with and been baffled by the various definitions you have heard or read? Have you ever visited a museum, stood before an artist’s creation and asked yourself why it is deemed valuable and given such prominence? Go to the Six Pack Gallery in Little Washington and spend some time with Vyvyan Voleuse’s installation “The Meaning of Everything.” There you will begin to know at least the meaning of art, and perhaps everything else in the process. This installation seems simple except for its sheer
scale. Voleuse has covered the floor of one room in the gallery with thousands of filled
canning jars. Narrow paths have been left for visitors to wander through this petrified
forest of glass. Looking closely we see that the carefully labeled jars date as far back
as the early 1980s. The colorful contents of many have become unrecognizable over the
years. In fact, the contents ironically have become not only nutritionally dead, but
deadly if eaten. Canning was invented in France in the early 19th
century as a way to preserve food for Napoleon’s marching armies. For many decades
afterwards it was one of the many skills practiced by women to provide for their families
and ensure that food was kept on the table. Now we often think of it as a loving way to
give the extra produce from our backyard gardens as gifts, earn a little money on the side
or be able to enjoy peaches in late winter from that tree in front of the house. But in Voleuse’s installation, canning becomes
a metaphor for much more. Here we see in one room the results of years and years of
devotion, love, sweat, toil, artistry, determination, focus, perseverance and hope. We
also see the culmination of good intentions gone terribly awry. What began as a
life-giving enterprise has become a toxic waste dump. What were once fruits of the Earth
have become a nightmarish pharmacy of suicide pills. Voleuse’s installation presents for us, simply
and quietly, a jarring snapshot of the human condition. Just as in Michelangelo’s
fresco of “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel, we are brought full-circle.
Voleuse has created a funeral parlor with the jars standing in for the corpse. We find
ourselves at a wake, reflecting on all that goes into a life, viewing the remains and
mourning its passing. That’s life. And that’s what great art is meant to show. |