Jay Rechsteiner

jay rechsteiner

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Weltschmerz: Demeter mourning for Persephone

for 'At the Violet Hour', group exhibition at Nayland Rock Hotel, Margate, UK
curated by Chiara Williams & Shaun Stamp
http://www.chiarawilliams.com/at-the-violet-hour.html

part of 'A serie of dull and meaningless works of art'

The inspiration comes from Hans/Jean Arp's sculpture 'Demeter' that he crated in response to the threat of nuclear war. Demeter who is mourning her daughter represents Arp's own Weltschmerz (world pain or world-weariness).

The installation consists of four elements:

Video 1: Chiara Williams, one of the two curators of 'At the Violet Hour', is singing lines of popular but very stupid hit songs. The video which refers to the downfall of culture.

Video 2: shows the artist creating Demeter inspired by Evelyn de Morgan's painting 'Demeter mourning for Persephone'. The sculpture represents the obedient woman who allows the man to shape/command her.

Video 3: is a how-to-deseed-a-pomegranate video of the sort one finds on Youtube. This video refers to Persephone who was forced to stay in the underworld because she ate a few pomegranate seeds.

Dick pic: refers not only to Hades who abducted and raped Persephone but also to the male & overall sexist theme of T. S. Eliot's poem 'The Waste Land'. However, the most important function of the dick pic is the fact that it attracts more attention than any of the other parts of the installation, i.e. it is a lazy and somewhat cheap way to get attention which represents the downfall of culture as well as the general lack of interest in art.

Demeter mourning for Persephone

How to deseed a pomegranate

Singing

Copyright © 2015, Jay Rechsteiner. All Rights Reserved.

Weltschmerz: Demeter mourning for Persephone
for 'At the Violet Hour', group exhibition at Nayland Rock Hotel, Margate, UK curated by Chiara Williams & Shaun Stamp http://www.chiarawilliams.com/at-the-violet-hour.html part of 'A serie of dull and meaningless works of art' The inspiration comes from Hans/Jean Arp's sculpture 'Demeter' that he crated in response to the threat of nuclear war. Demeter who is mourning her daughter represents Arp's own Weltschmerz (world pain or world-weariness). The installation consists of four elements: Video 1: Chiara Williams, one of the two curators of 'At the Violet Hour', is singing lines of popular but very stupid hit songs. The video which refers to the downfall of culture. Video 2: shows the artist creating Demeter inspired by Evelyn de Morgan's painting 'Demeter mourning for Persephone'. The sculpture represents the obedient woman who allows the man to shape/command her. Video 3: is a how-to-deseed-a-pomegranate video of the sort one finds on Youtube. This video refers to Persephone who was forced to stay in the underworld because she ate a few pomegranate seeds. Dick pic: refers not only to Hades who abducted and raped Persephone but also to the male & overall sexist theme of T. S. Eliot's poem 'The Waste Land'. However, the most important function of the dick pic is the fact that it attracts more attention than any of the other parts of the installation, i.e. it is a lazy and somewhat cheap way to get attention which represents the downfall of culture as well as the general lack of interest in art.





Demeter mourning for Persephone
How to deseed a pomegranate
Singing