“A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.”
(Dr.) Victor Frankenstein
“I was benevolent, my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone?”
Monster
"Lamb of Man" - David Adey
David Adey could be a modern day Dr. Frankenstein. He is very fond of the literary genius of Mary Shelley and I would imagine, fond of any work of genius whether it be in literature, art, music or relevant discipline if somehow he could break it down, dissect it, and put it back together into his own vision of order. The world according to Adey. He is not a dictator and this is not about power, it is about structure. Adey doesn’t give you much wiggle room when looking at his oeuvre; you’re almost always reacting to or against the very visceral content laid out before you. The work is emotionally charged and spiritually complex, it assaults the viewer’s sensibility by controlling the viewer’s intake of what is being looked at. It is sensual, deceiving, mischievous and humorous. It is also obsessive, maniac, and perfection at its core. It can also be process, repetition, manufacturing, design. It is Adey’s penance for having created so “many happy and excellent natures” that owe their being to him.
The formal aspect of his work is obvious. It is clean, precise and meticulously crafted. The sense of order, the combination and the use materials, their color, and their fabrication are impeccable – and I mean on every piece. The art historical references are obvious as well – Bruce Nauman, Damien Hirst, Sol Le Witt, Tim Hawkinson, Tony Cragg – but curiously enough, it might seem that between Adey and them, it's a sly game of who inspired who. That is to say, it shows Adey’s level of professionalism and the respect he has for his work and the viewer who views it. It verges on religious revelry. But where does work like this in part come from? Well, you might want to ask God.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Indeed.
Imagine if you will a large white freezer, the lid is propped open but it is not defrosting, you can hear the hum of the freezer motor as you approach. Your curious of course, if for no other reason that the freezer is placed in a gallery. It must be there for a reason. You get closer but still nothing and then you see it, a little bit of red and a little bit of frozen meat.
Now I have not seen this particular work in person, and have only viewed several photos taken of it. If I had actually looked in, I would have seen a hairless butchered lamb laying on its side. But this is no ordinary lamb and no ordinary frozen meat. The lamb has been clearly re-attached, literally stitched back together as a whole from its butchered parts – legs, head, ears, body, and tail. The title of the work – which does not figure within the current Spacecraft exhibit, but is a base for much of the work that follows – is “Lamb of Man.” A pun of course on the “Lamb of God.” But this is where Adey’s work starts to blur the line between fact and fiction or reality as we see it, or as we recognize it to be, even in the manner we name the objects within our view. The idea or in Adey’s case, (the object) and the physical, mechanical process of turning that one object into another (object), overrides the initial impetus or notion to have made the work in the first place – meaning the idea is inherent at the beginning but less so as the lab experiments so to speak, yield so many more fascinating results. In many respects this is what makes Adey’s work so visually expansive and conceptually smart. Not exactly turning water into wine, but pretty damn close.
"The New Bomb" - David Adey
Pontius Pilate presided over the trial of Jesus and condemned him to be crucified, though according to the canonical Christian Gospels, “he personally found him not guilty of a crime meriting death.”
Adey presided over the trial of the lamb he had slaughtered, though there was no alleged injustice committed meriting such a demise.
“The Old Testament also testifies to the earlier practice of sin offerings as a possible means of atonement. Lambs could be used in these offerings and this link is strongly suggested by John 1:29 and Peter 1:19. Like the sin of a person could be forgiven through the offering and the pouring out of the blood of an ‘unblemished’ lamb, so Christians would be freed from sin by the blood of Jesus as the unblemished Lamb of God.”
Was Adey’s sacrificial lamb “unblemished” thus allowing Adey to be free of sin? Was he freed from sin only to commit sin in some perverse cycle of confession and redemption, finding God through some cheap TV Evangilist preaching or baptismal dunking only to succumb once again to some Hollywood celebrity debauchery? Probably not, but choosing a lamb for sacrifice over say a calf is not entirely free of innocence or intent.
It was said that Jesus, once taken down from the cross, rose from the tomb three days later.
I don’t know how long it took Adey to resurect his lamb.
I am absolutely fascinated by the thought process behind the making of “Lamb of Man.” I believe you can look at a work like this in several ways: First, despite any religious upbringing or beliefs you might have, you can simply see Adey’s frozen lamb as any other piece of meat in your freezer ready for a “Last Supper.” It is quite common as we know, to walk into any supermarket’s meat department and see freshly butchered animals, bloodless and neatly packaged under cellophane. The butcher in some ways has atoned for our sins, leaving us relatively guilt free for not having been directly involved in the slaughter of the animal we’re consuming for our substenance. Whether you eat meat or not is another discussion all together. Secondly, the work could be seen as political in a very literal translation of the quote
Waste not, Want Not – Adey certainly isn’t wasting the lamb, he’s taken great trouble to get it wholly back, and he certainly wants it by preserving it like some Saint’s relic. But why? Flip the metaphor back to its original meaning –
by not wasting you’ll have something left over leaving you not wanting – and you have a sly commentary about the excess of American “Super-Size Me” mentality and culture, poor eating habits, leftovers and doggy bags. Opportunity, availability, abundance and full bellies gives one the luxury to discard what we no longer want or are too full to finish. Without pushing my observations into the realm of absurdity, if I am not already there, Man is indeed the sacrifical lamb for an enormous food industry that sacrifices him through over consumption and salivating false desires, guaranting addiction to their food substances and chemicals, not to mention obesity and poor health while blood letting his pocketbook and insuring a constant flow of consumer dollars to the corporate headquarters.
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The New Bomb" (detail) - David Adey
Thirdly, “Lamb of Man” could just be a pun, a one-liner, a joke, supermarket humor if there is such a thing. And finally, as religious belief: to be a sacrifical lamb has been in the modern day vernacular for quite some time now, appropriated from its original meaning and purpose during the time of Jesus, and now refers to any brave hero willing to sacrifice their own life so that others may live. It is perfect Hollywood film fodder by the way for any poor bastard foolish enough to believe he is doing the right thing for the good of the cause. Either way you die. The goal is that others may benefit in some way from your sacred act. We are all to some extent “sacrificial lambs” – for the company, the kids, religion, science, sports, friends, lovers and even war and terrorism. If we are lucky, we do not end up dead in the process and feel pretty good about the sacrifice(s) we made having enabled someone else to get closer to what we could no longer hold on to – a better life. And September 11th , what happened there? Have the right people benefited from the lambs that were slaughtered that day? I would guess that God sacrificing his only son to free the world of sin, was meant to be a one time thing – I’m not being entirely facetious here – but it was in the hope that mankind wouldn’t screw up and sin some more. Obviously this hasn’t been the case. So in a way, we carry on God’s work by sacrificing ourselves for the well being of others, absorbing the sins of those who do and give up our blood of forgiveness and hope in return.
I wonder though, if ideas are not sometimes the lamb that is sacrificed for art only to give you the impression that it meant something at all. “Lamb of Man” led to “The New Lamb” which spawned “Custom Lamb” which has led to Adey’s most recent piece on view in this exhibit, entitled “The New Bomb.” I believe “The New Bomb” has accomplished what a lot of religious or Christian art has done for centuries – communicate the word of God in a visual form. But of course, Adey is not going to let us get off that easy and forces us to wonder what is it that we’re really sacrificing and why.
"The New Bomb" (detail) - David Adey
New Bomb, New Lamb and Custom Lamb are all made similarly out of low fire slip cast ceramic and neon accessorization – both New Lamb and Custom Lamb are relatively to scale models of well, lambs. New Bomb as you might imagine is in the shape of a bomb. All three pieces are virginal white in color and have a glistening clear glaze on them. At first glance, except for the neon, they look like fluffy baby lambs, their wool coats matted in some areas and curly and springy in others. As you come closer you realize that what you’re seeing are many tiny little lambs, their little legs and heads sticking out of the body of the larger lamb. How is this possible, well Adey actually found and purchased several different sized lamb molds (full body), cast them in ceramic and then proceeded to cut them up into tiny little parts. He then proceeded to reconstruct and resurect a larger full sized lamb from the individual severed legs, body, tail, ears and head. But there’s more, each mosaic piece of lamb was positioned in their rightful place, meaning the lamb’s head was made up of smaller lamb heads, small ears made up larger ears, the body was made from body parts, the tail from tails etc. And quite often we have all seen that salon style cut a lamb receives from time to time - a “poodle cut” with shaved legs and a little tuft of wool left around the feet. Well, Adey has managed to duplicate that effect on the larger lambs with little tiny lamb legs that radiate downward around its ankles. This is the plank Adey makes us walk as willing participants in the aftermath of his action(s) as voyeurs, we are filled with disgust and horror but captivated by the beauty of death and disfigurement. Warhol’s series of silk-screened car accidents, reproduced over and over on one canvas of victims spilling out car doors in a twisted metal pile of metal, has the same effect on the viewer. We live the moment vicariously and with almost as much passion. Pull any spider’s legs off its body or wings from a butterfly or dismember your child’s doll and you will know – if you haven’t already done it – what I’m talking about.
If there is one caveat to works like New Lamb and Custom Lamb, it is that they are too smart. They speak to – and perhaps this is a very thinly veiled argument – a more educated, cultivated group of viewers with some degree of general knowledge and historical/religious even artistic experience or savoir faire. This runs counter to the purpose of a lot of religious art made throughout the centuries that was obviously visual – and often times oral - as opposed to literary for the simple reason it was appealing to a larger illiterate population. The idea was if you walked into the Church of God you could still “get” God’s message through these gigantic dark canvases of suffering, piety and worship. Before anyone gets upset, I’m not saying that there are illiterate, poorly educated and un-cultivated gallery visitors running wild through the streets, I’m saying the “read” on these works could be misinterpreted through a topographical - i.e. surface, beauty, craft, allure, seduction, preciousness, perceived value and cultural status (the difference between owning a simple clay pot from Wal Mart or dinnerware from Limoges) etc. – as opposed to a spiritual “read” that I believe the work is trying to convey. All artwork is of course open-ended and open to interpretation by the viewer and the artist, however the (art)work does originate from someplace and this is where I’m trying to go to in Adey’s sculptures. If you look at the Lamb of God pictorially portrayed throughout history, it is represented as such and can usually be found under the cross of Jesus, for example in the stunning altarpiece Life of Jesus by Matthias Grunewald or on an altar as in The Ghent Altarpiece – Adoration of the Lamb by Jan van Eyck – usually pissing blood into a golden challis from a wound in the chest (mimicking the wound Jesus had inflicted upon him by a Roman soldier). The viewer or worshiper whatever the case may be recognizes visually what is happening and “gets” God’s message. For all intensive purposes, Adey’s lambs are ceramic lambs in a gallery – while incredibly beautiful to look at – they have lost their iconic role as messenger and perhaps as metaphor and given themselves over to simple artistic expression.
"The New Bomb" (detail) - David Adey
The “New Bomb” is another story altogether. It is an absolute Icon with a capital “I” What’s in a name? that which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet and a lamb is a lamb unless we call it something else. But there is no mistaking a bomb and its destructive power. The iconography of a bomb is indisputable; its symbolism of power, dominance, fear, death and destruction is not too dissimilar to the “Wrath of God” promised to rain down upon those cretins, non-believers and sinners who did not adhere to God’s ways. The iconography of any of the religious painting being produced in the 15th century would strike fear into any mere mortal’s soul; you only had to take one look at a tableau by Hieronymus Bosch to figure out what your destiny was going to be – and oh my dear Lord, the suffering you would endure. With the exception of Adey’s bomb, those that came before it and those that will come after (the exploding kind), promise the same suffering. There is no longer nor has there been any Divine intervention by God (since Man invented gunpowder). God has been replaced by the mere mortals, the heathen He was trying to convert; Man has become the new God and is now deciding the fate of others. The results are almost always exactly the same, you die. But for what good reason? Adey’s “New Bomb” is a sacrifical lamb that is sacrificing itself for the good of those who it is being used against and for those who are dropping it. Bombing by any other name – Arc Light, Iron Hand, Rolling Thunder, Linebacker I & II – would not smell as sweet. The point is this, we see almost immediately the impact of the bomb as a recognizable form in Adey’s sculpture, we see too that it is comprised of littler parts of cast lambs and we understand the dichotomy between sacrificing for the good of the cause – mankind – and sacrificing others for our own pocketbook, territory or eternal life. “New Bomb” is quintensentially Mankind in the 21st century.
It is all rather absurd. And maybe this is the point afterall in “New Bomb” as it slinks its way across the floor with little centipede like lamb legs attached to its underside, neon angel wings fastened to its back, blinking like some cheap hotel’s no vancancy sign. Perhaps a lot of wars and killings could have been “difused” had the bombs needed to fly under their own power instead of being propelled (I suspect they would fly free) or had to crawl with tiny little legs toward potential enemy’s territory before exploding. I admit it puts a smile on my face just imagining seeing these little buggers trot like a herd of elephants all in a row to their final resting place, some bomb cemetary, which I hope is no way near man’s devilish grip.
If you look around the incredible display of works by Adey in this his first solo exhibition, you might deduce that he likes to work in series. This makes a lot of sense of course given the stamina and patience he brings to each and every work, stubbornly(in my view) by methodically finishing and drawing out the last breath of each sculpture’s essence. What I do know in asking him directly, is that this working methodology is part and parcel responsible for the greater success of all of his works. Aside from the one “lamb” sculpture in the exhibition and the other two I spoke of which are not, there are two separate bodies of work (loosely) that employ the use of black drywall screws and craft punches – no less compelling I guarantee.... Part III to follow
Kevin Freitas
To see more works by David Adey, please visit his website.
“Swarm,” “Flower,” “Katie Holmes,” and “Posh + Becks” is another series of works in this exhibition that are simply astounding in their complexity of design and simplicity of idea and manufacture. Over the years, Adey has bought, used and collected “craft punches” that allow you to punch out a myriad of pop culture shapes – stars, hearts, hands, arrows etc. – in paper that range in size of a pinhead to that of a quarter. The punches mainly used as tools for the wildly popular scrap booking craze that has everyone gluing and pasting, are now used in Adey’s hands to make artwork. Over several months prior to the exhibit and through generous donations from friends and family, Adey has been “punching” hundreds of shapes in all different sizes from fashion magazines – but only the flesh tones from the models glamorously displayed within their pages. No ads, no cars, no perfume, just flesh, nothing but flesh in all types of skin tones and colors and then proceeds to resurrect once again, the victim(s). You should know by now, that Adey is incapable of leaving the task at hand at such an elementary level and this is only the raw material. Each punched shaped has then been pinned (crucified) like some entomological collection to a Styrofoam background and turned into some of the most sensual and seductive – devilish and pornographic – orgy of sublime collages I’ve ever seen.
*I know most galleries are booked out for at least a year, how long is your space booked out for?
