My Rock Is A Purse

Issue 33 Deception Spring 2009

Inventory / My Rock Is a Purse

Susan Greenspan

“Inventory” is a column that examines or presents a list, catalogue, or register.

In 1996, my friend V—— gave me a rock that looked like a tiny purse, one with a thin metal clasp at the top, the sort you might carry when you dress up to go out at night. V—— had found the rock in the mid-1970s during a vacation to Pantelleria, the volcanic island between Sicily and Tunisia. At the time she gave it to me, I was building a collection of things that looked like other things—a potato chip that looked like a heart, a piece of white bread that looked like a T-shirt. We put the rock that looked like a purse on a piece of crimson velvet and took pictures of it.

Since the rock-purse gift, I have been searching for more rocks that resemble other things. I found the majority of my current collection (about twenty in number) at the beach. Most of the “meats” (bacon, pancetta, tripe) were found in and around Santa Cruz, California. The bean and the macadamia nut are from Fetiye, Turkey. The egg and the black-and-white cookie are from Cape Cod.

purse

gorgonzola

bacon

Source is Cabinet Magazine.  Link here to see more rocks.  

T. Allen Lawson, Artist

“Much of my process is deciding what to leave out instead of what to put in. I often use very fine sandpaper to remove paint, shape a passage or manipulate the pigment. The process then becomes one of refinement.” ~ T. Allen Lawson from the January/February 2012 issue of The Artist’s Magazine

Stan Shellabarger, Artist

detail of Untitled (Walking Book 14, 2201 S. Union, 3rd Floor, Chicago, IL), 2008

Stan Shellabarger is an artist who walks or, rather, he is a walking artist—that is, walking is his art. He records his walking activities not with pen and map nor strewn breadcrumbs, but by attaching graphite or sandpaper to his soles and making contact with paper laid down in his path. He follows a planned route, albeit a brief one: a staircase, or a stretch of sidewalk. Back-and-forth repetition is key. The resulting paper reveals either a smeary frottage of silvery graphite or a patterned tread of holes, depending on which implement Shellabarger wears on his feet. The paper is proof of contact with the world.

Scott Campbell, Artist

Graphite in Ostrich Egg Shells

Chris Hosmer, Artist

Hong Seon Jang, Artist

Layers of clear tape on chalkboards.

Kjell Varvin, Artist