Half-Life

2023, 60" x 80" x 70", glass, wood, metal, gypsum, paint, cold fusion, permanent collection: Bank of Kaukauna, photo credit: Rich Maciejewski

Half-Life responds to this transitional moment, a visual fulcrum that invites mediation on what precedes and what will come. Generating from the still life genre, the sculpture includes objects, both alive and inanimate, ranging from ancient botanical specimens to tools of the age of the Enlightenment. The incorporation of prehistoric flora alludes to the impermanence of the present and persistence of life. The inclusion of a scale, weights and fish invites the viewer to contemplate the tipping point between consumption and sustainability.

The title, a reference to a measurement of decay used in nuclear physics, describes the time it takes for the radioactivity of an isotope to fall to half its original value. The concept accounts for the decay of matter as a natural occurrence, equally weighing what persists against what disappears. Half-Life posits, what value do we leave behind?

Video by Stewart McClain