Black Bucket Essays
Volume 1, Issue 1
“The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others’ ideas to be realized. ”
- Mel Chin
Bart O'Reilly
Initially this well know proposition from the end of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein came to mind in response to Chin’s quote.
My propositions serve as elucidations in the following way: anyone who understands me eventually recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has used them—as steps—to climb beyond them. (He must, so to speak, throw away the ladder after he has climbed up it.) He must transcend these propositions, and then he will see the world aright. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, Page 89, Annalen der Naturphilosophie, 1922.
The philosopher proposes that once the reader has climbed the metaphorical ladders that make up this concise work that they may be discarded. This is quite a humble way to end what is considered by many one of the outstanding contributions to 20th century philosophy. It also helped me to reread the work as a poetical play with language as well as philosophical treatise on logic.
Mel Chin seems to take a similar stance in relation to his own conceptual practice. In the Art 21 episode that focuses on his work he states that poetry motivates his actions as an artist. But there is also a sense of practicality in the work. It seems to me that the artist wants to lead by example. If we take the piece Revival Field where he grows hyper accumulator plants to extract toxins from polluted soil. The poetry is in the reductive act of sculpture. A 20th / 21st Century equivalent to Michelangelo chiseling the figure of David from a block of marble, as he puts it. It would be wrong to leave it there however. The artist is clearly pointing a way to a practical solution in our times of impending environmental catastrophe; this action could be repeated. This kind of thinking could solve other problems. The art is adapting to the needs of our times.
Do we still need marble statues, white and pristine imitations of our perceived high point of Western Civilization that was Ancient Greece? I don’t think so. Like Chin says in relation to art “It will always be different”. It will adapt to the needs of the moment it was realized. Chin’s statement is also commendable in that it removes the ego from the work. It is fair to say that we artists can be a self- absorbed lot. But the idea that we are breaking ground for the ideas of others as opposed to just breaking ground for the gentrification of our cities is refreshing. None of what we achieve personally is done alone. A sense of humility and of being part of the wider community is important. Especially in the 21st Century where the population of the planet is over 7 billion people and growing at what seem like near viral rates. If self interest is the only driving force we are indeed in trouble, Chin proposes a better approach. One that I hope can point the way not just for artists but for all of us in these challenging times.
Volume 1, Issue 1
“The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others’ ideas to be realized. ”
- Mel Chin
Bart O'Reilly
Initially this well know proposition from the end of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein came to mind in response to Chin’s quote.
My propositions serve as elucidations in the following way: anyone who understands me eventually recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has used them—as steps—to climb beyond them. (He must, so to speak, throw away the ladder after he has climbed up it.) He must transcend these propositions, and then he will see the world aright. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, Page 89, Annalen der Naturphilosophie, 1922.
The philosopher proposes that once the reader has climbed the metaphorical ladders that make up this concise work that they may be discarded. This is quite a humble way to end what is considered by many one of the outstanding contributions to 20th century philosophy. It also helped me to reread the work as a poetical play with language as well as philosophical treatise on logic.
Mel Chin seems to take a similar stance in relation to his own conceptual practice. In the Art 21 episode that focuses on his work he states that poetry motivates his actions as an artist. But there is also a sense of practicality in the work. It seems to me that the artist wants to lead by example. If we take the piece Revival Field where he grows hyper accumulator plants to extract toxins from polluted soil. The poetry is in the reductive act of sculpture. A 20th / 21st Century equivalent to Michelangelo chiseling the figure of David from a block of marble, as he puts it. It would be wrong to leave it there however. The artist is clearly pointing a way to a practical solution in our times of impending environmental catastrophe; this action could be repeated. This kind of thinking could solve other problems. The art is adapting to the needs of our times.
Do we still need marble statues, white and pristine imitations of our perceived high point of Western Civilization that was Ancient Greece? I don’t think so. Like Chin says in relation to art “It will always be different”. It will adapt to the needs of the moment it was realized. Chin’s statement is also commendable in that it removes the ego from the work. It is fair to say that we artists can be a self- absorbed lot. But the idea that we are breaking ground for the ideas of others as opposed to just breaking ground for the gentrification of our cities is refreshing. None of what we achieve personally is done alone. A sense of humility and of being part of the wider community is important. Especially in the 21st Century where the population of the planet is over 7 billion people and growing at what seem like near viral rates. If self interest is the only driving force we are indeed in trouble, Chin proposes a better approach. One that I hope can point the way not just for artists but for all of us in these challenging times.
