MDavid&Co
Michael David & Co Residency Dec 2019
This work is inspired by Rimbaud’s Drunken Ship and the Buddha’s Raft parable both of which questions what is broken , what is left behind and how we choose to move forward.
The Buddha’s Raft is a parable about a man needing to cross a dangerous river. He builds a raft to cross the river. While on the river the raft provides the safety but also the potential for death as any leak or breakage can leave him far from shore. He gets to the safety of the other shore but what of the raft? Does he leave the raft and appreciate the safety it provided, or does he carry it with him adding to his burdens crossing the next unpredictable terrain?
Where in our lives do we hang on to the past? As a single parent of a teenage daughter, whose father is an alcoholic, I am constantly teaching my daughter its ok to leave the raft behind. But what of me or any one of us? How many rafts are we carrying? This installation speaks to that journey of burden and release.
The boat is made from a seven foot square of Unryu paper with quilt designs in it.
The neon lights represent the bench in a canoe, the place that holds you while you need its support.
The neon light is the “enlightenment” we search for on our path.
The Quilt pattern of paper is symbolic of the lessons I learned from my grandmother as she taught me to quilt.
The idea is of the duality in our lives. The duality of courage and fear traveling together in the same waters.
Bowls/Vessels made of Encaustic Medium (Bees Wax with Damar Resin)
The bowls represent the IChing- where Heaven-large bowls all gold meet Earth-green bowls create Water- blue/purple bowls.
The Gold is the representation of the Enlightenment we seek and the blue and greens the earthly state we exist in.
This installation represents my journey of Courage vs Fear, Strength vs Weakness/despair, Color vs No Color. The broken bowls are also part of my journey’s expectation of perfection. Not only to find the imperfect but also being able to continue and allow the imperfect to represent me and who I am.
I was born in Cucuta, Colombia 1967 and moved to the US in 1971.
Pilar Uribe website
