Hot Lips

It’s a chorus, a whole bunch of cut bamboo all piping off on the same note. The idea is to take a theme and run with it so that the whole is amplified by the repetition of the parts. In this case, the color orange painted just on the inside of the openings gives the pieces the sense of an open mouth. They could be singing or making sounds like a pipe organ. There is humor in the simple suggestively of the forms.

Bamboo is a resource close at hand growing in large stands just outside my studio door. It falls down into my garden and I have to cut it anyway. It is a small step to continue the process by dicing the bamboo into short sections. Then I let it sit around for a while and it slowly dries out. To help it along, I lightly toast the surface with my propane torch. This is fun, and it smells good as the fire drives out the sugars in the surface. The pieces are becoming more painterly; they are being discovered in interesting ways. Coloring the insides with Korean cashew lacquer finishes the pieces. The finish is the last step, it makes them whole.

Putting 34 pieces together makes an installation, but also a performance as their voices are amplified. In the right environment, the bamboo comes back to life but with a more human sound. This gradual transformation of the nuisance in my garden into a joyous art experience is why making art is so valuable. It suggests that with enough energy and imagination any problem can be turned around and be made over into something good and worthwhile.