Major corporate broadcast networks reported on July’s 2-week global heat wave at least 127 times, but mentioned climate change only once
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Why we buy honey in El Sereno
by Sophie Weil
Is a cactus like wax? It was explained to me... it was shown and lead by example, when we cut the excess wax from a mold, its like a burner phone, untraceable that attaches to a new owner, new phone number, new start with some sort of history retained. The cactus is clipped, breaks, thrown in the dumpster, rescued and re purposed. The wax leaves a mark, melts on the ground, scraped up, poured over a canvas, leaves your hands sticky, a thorn in your gloved paw or in the bottom of your shoe. Bees make the wax and also pollinate the cactus. In the southwestern U.S. this species of bees is called Diadasia, which of course are on watch of being endangered. Am I touching on climate change now?
California is on fire as I write this and JPW3’s public sculptures, interactive structures and outdoor happenings, have mostly shown themselves in hot places, Miami or L.A. There is a dire need for shade and refuge from weather when you live in these environments. Night Gallery is situated on the outskirts of Downtown Los Angeles, where there is little greenery or sun cover in this industrially landscaped neighborhood.
"House Hair" and "Gopher Baskets" were both initially used for different purposes; the ribbon was first used as a video screen when showing Walsh’s Figure Ascending a Return at Martos Gallery in New York, and the planters started out as a necessity in the artists own yard as a way to keep noxious critters from eating the garden.
The lack of safety and escape from the elements is what inspired these projects to take place at Night Gallery. The need for more vermin proof containers grew for Walsh, and he began using studio detritus to make and fill them, the video screen turned into a room divider, a stage backdrop and then as a curtain to keep the sun out. It's working with what you got, propagated soil, bits of foam, waxy canvas, old rags and cardboard were stuffed into the bottom of the baskets and woven through the wire grid, like a punk house garden, a tired, but ornamented yard, slab city. The sanctum is assembled and we bask in the new shade that was built.