Still Life with Unfolding Rock

Artists

• Johanna Barron

Statement

The weight of the earth is estimated near 6.6 sextillion tons, most of which is natural rock, hot rock and a tiny amount, too small to mention, is artificial rock—man made rock decoys for lawn decoration, zoo animal habitat, heated lizard rocks, concealment spaces, rock hide-a-keys.

This group of work is about my relationship to rocks—from a self portrait as a child carrying a rock to imagined lichen and moss that might grow from artificial rocks to larger things like the contemplation of the transformation of matter through time and space.

I am particularly inspired by Schopenhauer's feeling of the Sublime, wherein he describes the ‘Full Feeling’ of the Sublime as the pleasure of seeing a violent object of magnitude and one that could destroy the observer, and the ‘Fullest Feeling’ of the Sublime as the immensity of Universe's extent or duration.