Flooded Chambers Maid

Various kinds of geometry stretch over two sections of lawn bisected by a walking path. On one side of the path there are bleachers from the top of which the rest of the work can be viewed. Across the path from the bleachers there is an 80-foot long platform that can be walked on. The surface of the platform is composed of an irrational geometry described with metal and resin grating, shape and color. Behind the bleachers there is a flowerbed the patterns of which intersect the patterning of the platform. Experience of the work calls attention to an intersection of geometric abstraction proposed by the sculpture with the geometry of the parks design, and with the organic patterning that is inherent in the grass, trees, flowers, and structure of the surrounding buildings of the city. It allows a moment to take a turn off the beaten path.

Pleasures can be discovered in the processes of doing.  Existing, making, and servicing needs can give rise to pleasure. Need is linked to pleasure. Pleasure can take over as the goal if it is not at the outset. The park exists to service need and to give pleasure. The body is central to the experience provided by the park and by the sculpture.

We have a need to be connected to things growing and to the processes of nature. The order of the park intersects the things growing there. The park is a form, a container, and a bracket mediating our experience of “nature.” It mediates nature both in and outside of our selves – our nature and the nature of trees, plants, animals, sky, and rain outside of us.
The pleasure taken in relation to aesthetic order and structure derives meaning and impact as it relates to the place of pleasure in negotiating our needs through the course of life.

This work and its title suggest an intersection with social life and social structure, which is about women, but also about men.  Maids are often women. Women do a lot of service work, waiting tables, cleaning, cooking, and servicing in relation to pleasure too. The word “flooded” seems archetypal as a description of women. Women are thought to be more watery then men, flooded with menstrual fluid, and feeling. Though real men are often watery too! And we are, all of us, engaged in making.