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"Holy Smoke" and beyond...Date Posted: November 13, 2008 i was just analyzing and trying to decode this piece, when i realized the meaning of it:
what does an old cigarette pack signify?
On the literal level, trash, clearly.
But
from a Marxist perspective, a cigarette pack is also a commodity. It is
property. In this context, however, it is discarded property.
Moreover,
my pack of benson & hedges was, at one point, MY property, thus, it
stands as a symbol of my economic capital and therefore, implicitly, of
me, my body, my mind, my soul.
In this sense, I think that the
implicit message you are conveying is that I, luke lebrun, in body, in
mind, and in soul, is trash.
But let us also consider that my B&H pack is one amongst many. See how it is placed at the very top and in the centre.
whereas, all the other old cigarette packs are to the side or beneath it.
Luke LeBrun
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So, what I think you're saying is: these symbols of our personhood
represent that the essence of humanity may be likened to trash, nay,
strike that, our essence IS trash --- but given how you arrange them,
you seem to imply that there is a hierarchy of trash, and that I, luke
lebrun, occupy the top of the trash heap, in your eyes.
this is honestly the most flattering tribute in my honour ever, Xan
thanks : )
Luke LeBrun
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I am going to place this piece above the chefs portraits. A sort of
'stained glass' made of cigarette packs. The alley is a sacred space so
I thought I would represent it as such.
re: maybe our essence is trash.. but can trash not be beautiful? Enchanting? Spiritual? Enlightening? Mystical?
And the alley - conventionally thought of as a dark and dangerous place - can it not be considered a cultural space?
Xan Woods
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Hey Xan ~ That's a great piece, and an opportunity for me to engage in
some commentary myself :-) For privileged, the 'alley' is a no-go zone,
a taboo space, in spite of the fact that the root of the word is Fr.
'to go'. When did the urban alley transform from shortcut to cut-off?
Perhaps n'alley is more fitting.
The notion of <n'alley>
as sacred space, especially upon facing its entry, makes me think of a
couple of analogues: (1) the via negativa path to gnostic wisdom:
mystic passage defined by the spaces in-between structure; and (2) the
entry to the alley as a portal like an inverted archway, in which the
crosspiece that connects the pillars lies across the ground (like a U).
Lately, I've been thinking about the colonization of smoking
places by the ever-expanding non-smoking spatial hegemony. That works
into my reading of this art too.
So your intriguing work intersects my thoughts. I suppose that is a good thing eh?
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i think this sums up everything youre talking about re: the holiness of trash
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abject
Luke LeBrun
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could we not say that the alley is a space where the marginalized of
society gather? (hobos, prostitutes, junkies, chefs on cigarette
breaks, girls with digital cameras etc) thus, alexandra, perhaps the
alley is not merely a cultural space but rather a COUNTER-cultural
space?
and how shall we define beauty? is beauty like Matthew
Arnold says, 'the sweetness and light' of life which elevates our minds
& souls to higher & civlized plains of existence?
Hardly!
I scoff at the insinuatioN!
But
could it also be, Alexandra, that the act of delineating beauty from
the abject in a sense, segregates the representation of life into a,
dare i say it, binaric view of the world?
Perhaps, if I may be
permitted to offer the bold suggestion, you are essentially reclaiming
the abject as an object of beauty from the clutches of Matthew Arnold
& the teeming legions of cultural elitists who feel the need to
tell me what is and is not beautiful, mystical, enchanting, spiritual,
and so forth
Luke LeBrun
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I love this dialogue!!!! What thoughtful insight!
Maybe it will appear somewhere in the show!!!
Xan Woods
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I saw the discarded cigarette packages arranged in this way as symbols
of the previous owners. Still, I never considered that they were
arranged hierarchically, even though they occupy a spatial
organization, and, in this case, it happens to be vertically displayed.
Instead,
I saw them as a statement that says: "Behold an aesthetic that includes
not only beauty, humanity, and reality, but also an order entirely its
own, which constitutes an oft-dismissed subculture. The external
culture is acknowledged here in that it supports the subculture by
benefiting from it. The subculture is proud, as we can clearly tell by
the colours and differences of the individual packages - a statement
all the more meaningful in light of being at once marginalized and
exploited.
Julee Pauling
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some people eat garbage and wear garbage and make houses out of garbage
and even push garbage around town in little metal carts that go 'clinky
clacky shake shake'.
Kate Grimes
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thank you "julee"
i think that the fact that my cigarette pack
is gold and placed at the top of this heap of trash (not unlike the
star of bethlehem, in the sky atop jesus' manger on christmas eve, or
like the star atop a christmas tree of ornaments of lesser
importance/aesthetic value) speaks volumes
in a sense, i think
what xan is trying to say is i am representative of hegemony and the
other cigarette packs are representative of identities subjugated and
marginalized by my hegemony
my ego (if its not already evident) is quite honestly glowing with pride right now
Luke LeBrun
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CommentsThere are 8 comments on this blog.
"Yes I agree with you!" - unknown
November 27, 2008
"I agree with Luke! Couldn't have said it better myself!" - Luke LeBrun
December 1, 2008
"yesterdays top of the heap is buried far below even less valuable trash today. every star burns out." - 463
January 27, 2009
"I'm so glad I found this site...Keep up the good work" - Bill Bartmann
September 2, 2009
"Hey good stuff...keep up the good work! :)" - Bill Bartmann
September 2, 2009
"This site rocks!" - Bill Bartmann
September 9, 2009
"Really nice posts. I will be checking back here regularly." - Kelli Garner
October 1, 2009
"Enjoyed reading through this site, I will send this site to a few of my friends" - Paul fishing
November 28, 2009
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