Verge
Roadkill deer bones, kiln cast glass, white gold leaf, cyanotype, deer hides, rust, tyvek, medical felt, road glass
Dimensions variable
Solo Exhibition, PACE Council Bluffs, IA. 2021
Verge is the grassy land beside a road or highway. It can also define an edge or border.
In this exhibition, the elevator doors open, and viewers step into a gallery adorned with glass beads and lacelike patterns. Sparkling sculptures are suspended from the ceiling. Lush fur and leather adorn the walls.
The sculptures are hand-polished roadkill deer skeletons that have been repaired with cast glass and white gold leaf. These glass prosthetics are replacements for bones that were destroyed in road accidents or scavenged by animals. The fur is tanned deer hides, covered with images in cyanotype and rust.
Soon visitors realize they are standing in a 1:1 scale replica of an American highway. The long glass rectangles are the dashed lane dividers every driver is familiar with. Standing in the traffic lane, they realize the scale of these marks is 10 feet long. The dark lacy pattern covered in glass road beads is the shape and size of a recent deer strike. This experience unfolds between allure and violence. Suddenly they are examining an event that is sped past in everyday life.
All photographs by Brittany Brooke Crow
