Hello, 10 lb. Ape at Claremont Museum of Art.
This animal is ephemera. Ephemera, commonly misspelled e-p-h-e-m-o-r-a, is transitory, it is fragmented, it is accumulated and cobbled, it is time-based and it is moving. It is stuff, found on an anyday, or everyday. It is the action of an artist collective, known as 10 lb. Ape.*
Banded originally in 2004, 10 lb. Ape promises to engage, question and make known the implications of our daily lives, or shall I say, the result of our daily lives and what we do in it. The title, "Your Mother Was Beautiful Once", renders "Beauty", as the operative word.
These installations question beauty. In referencing an earlier post, the gathering of ephemera is referential observation gleaned during accumulation.
Interest lies in the items past; "Where were you yesterday, nude statue?" "Who wore you, broken watch piece?" "What did you deter, safety cone?". Then, in this moment we can observe its new use now.
The images in this blog are from the opening reception of "Part Vier" of the Your Mother Was Beautiful Once exhibition. "Vier" is the word "Four" in German. ~sigh~
OK, I get it - homage to the fore-fathers of DaDa etc...
but, nothing says, "&*$% you, audience" more than throwing in text that is only accessible to a certain populace. And herein lies the oxymoron of DaDa: use the ever-day and make it accessible, while alienating the masses. 
Maybe it would make sense to use "cuatro", because 10 lb. Ape was founded in, and projects have taken place in Mexico.
In addition to the installation at the museum, various Happenings that will take place in and around the Claremont area over the course of the museum exhibition period. (September 20 - January 10, 2010).
Location is relevant to the collective 10lb. Ape artists, because they are all products themselves of Claremont. However, I do believe that there may be some western-overlap into Pomona and eastern-overlap into the San Bernardino County region, but for sake of ease and pedigree, Claremont is the hub.
One of the locations will be at the L.A. County Fair all day long on September 24th.
This type of work is fun, stimulating and thought-provoking while at once being almost totally dismissive of art understandings.
So,
upon further deconstruction of, the word "Vier" - in English it is the noun for the verb, "Vie". As in, "We are vying for recognition". Or perhaps in this case, "We are vying for your participation".
And participate you must!! You can't help it, really, as the installation and all the Happenings will call for it and beckon you.
Four, Vier, Vier, Fore. Mark Your calendars. Participate!!
*10 lb. Ape founding member is Matt Wardell and members have included Ilka Vasconcelos Araujo, Penelope Armada, Enki Hadar (RIP 2006), Gustavo Herrera, Archie M. Purvis, John Fischer Stevenson III, Alex Swan among others.
