Brood
This work uses a triadic grouping of similar motifs to create a dialogue between the parts. The most prominent component is the backlit wooden hanging wall box that is sealed with bee’s wax. The graphic that is illuminated on the front is moderately obscured by wax, but one can tell that it is a symbolic cycle, with arrows directing the flow. The other two pieces are placed on the floor in front of the wall installation, effectively activating the space around it and giving the work an aura of its own. The box, a constructed beehive, to the left is filled with empty half oyster shells, and also has wax coating the interior of the white wooden structure. The pile to the right is made up of methodically placed wooden rectangles which serve to frame up a single half oyster shell filled with wax, resting on the floor, and holding a single pearl.

The three components of this work tie together visually. The structural motif of white rectangles coated in wax is repeated in each part and ties the whole composition together. Considering the name of the piece, one can make some inferences to the artist’s conceptual intent. Brood, however, has many different definitions, and each one brings a different light to the work. Usually though, it refers to a single grouping of offspring. In this context, the brood is the grouping of oyster shells in the left box, representing a population. The pearl-producing outlier is the special one, removed from the population, and obstructed by seemingly empty objects. This work is tied together when one reads the central illuminated piece as the cycle of life, with the common path pointing out to the left where everyone else is inside of the box, and the less common path pointing to the framed-up pearl producer. Both are cut from the same cloth, but vary in their finishing states. Even though oysters cannot consciously choose to produce a pearl or not, this work can be viewed as a eulogy for taking the less beaten path to success. 

Bill Hill © 2014