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Art Life on November 24, 2021 »Art Criticism

Bradley Borthwick's exhibition "Objects of Empire" conveys more than just the first sight. In the gallery on the second floor of the BCA Center in Burlington, warm spotlights focus on two rather simple installations. The light is dim, giving this small room a sense of closeness.

On the left, a nearly four-foot-long amphora is half-carved from a 600-pound piece of white Olympia, Vermont marble, as if it were decorated with a sarcophagus. It sits on three thick Atlantic white cedar beams, each 24 inches long. A narrow marble stele, or tombstone, is supported on an amphora.

Fifteen copies of the tablet computer cast in beeswax leaned on the opposite wall. Five of them are higher than the others on the cedar block. The tablet is 20.5 inches wide, 31 inches high, and 1.5 inches thick. Their elegantly carved inscriptions commemorate Mr. John Pratt, who was buried in the Old Bennington Cemetery in 1768, where Boswick first discovered the tombstone.

The accompanying soundscape features ruthless industrial jingles and melancholic piano melody. Gradually, the intensity of the composition gradually increases, then gradually disappears and builds up again and again. The sound is hypnotic, attracting and repelling at the same time.

As Borthwick explained on the phone, he recorded a hydraulic hammer in a metalworking workshop near his home in Maine. He then sent the file to his brother-in-law, Saskatchewan musician and producer SJ Kardash. Kadas composed and played the piano part and synchronized it with the rhythm of the machine.

The audio components of "Imperial Thing" create an atmosphere, while the visual elements present a seductive code. The object may be a relic, or an omen, or both. Their placement is obviously deliberate, but it is reminiscent of the general order in which the warehouses are salvaged. Tourists may ask, what happened here?

According to a guide written by BCA curator and exhibition director Heather Ferrell, “Borthwick investigated two seemingly inconsistent artifacts-an 18th-century Vermont tombstone, the Pratt Stele and an ancient Roman-era binaural Bottle... [He] presents each form as a powerful signifier of memory, place and cultural connection."

The Ontario-born artist is now an associate professor of art at Colby College, and he is really passionate about studying cultural and industrial history. He said that amphorae and tablets are "marks of time and place." They are the remnants of rise and decline.

Borthwick believes that objects are not just physical debris; they can have collective memories. "When I carve the stone, I feel a resonance," he said. "I can't explain it, but I know it's there."

The hideout of amphorae was found in ruins in Europe and the Mediterranean, proving the vast territory of the Roman Empire. The Pratt Stele—“one of the first works of Vermont marble to be placed in a cemetery,” Ferrer observed—represents a different kind of empire: the thriving quarry and stone carving industry in New England.

Borthwick's juxtaposition of elements here is fascinating-and not just a little exciting. The exhibition is not preaching, but it provides a tempting psychological rabbit hole. The consideration of the time spanning thousands of years is one of them: the amphora exists in the distant past that we call "ancient". The tombstones are just old-accessible past that can be seen from cemeteries all over Vermont. Linking these periods together are the unfathomable primitive stones, which were taken from the earth and have been used by humans for life and death throughout the ages.

2021 is an easy period away from the rise and fall of ancient Rome, and away from the once strong economic recession in Vermont. Considering the current period of degradation-climate, natural resources, civilization, democracy, this is absolutely uncomfortable. As Boswick wrote in his statement for the previous exhibition, titled "Amphora": "[W] Can these empire symbols make us aware of our current position in the cycle of civilization? ?"

Borthwick's use of beeswax reflects a shocking decline: the decline of the bee colony. "Conceptually, we know that without bees, we don't have much food supply," he said. But the materiality of beeswax also has a less obvious meaning in the exhibition.

"Beeswax is inert," Borthwick explained. "The material will not deteriorate; it will not degrade." As long as the temperature does not exceed the melting point of 147 degrees Fahrenheit, those beeswax replicas will be more durable than his stone carvings. As evidence, Borthwick pointed out that over time, the stone structure would become a victim of abrasive elements—the ancient Romans kept records on tables made of beeswax. He said that many of them are still intact and kept in the Roman Museum.

The beeswax flakes also add luster to the "Imperial Thing" with a pleasant aroma and warm earthy color-in sharp contrast with the cold white stone. The importance of each component, including the reddish wood blocks, enhances the other components aesthetically.

Boswick said that as an artist, he has become more serious about the limited natural resources he uses. He said his students are now more likely to use reclaimed wood and residual stone in the sculpture class at Colby College where he taught for eight years.

Borthwick is playing a long-term game. He keeps in mind the past and future of the earth materials he has used and loved for more than 20 years. "It's not popular," he said of the stone. "But I have always believed that Marble can still talk to people."

The original print version of this article was titled "Imperial Strike"

Labels: Art Criticism, Bradley Boswick, Things of the Empire, SJ Kardash, Sculpture, Marble, Pratt Tablet, BCA Center

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