Richard Goulis

High Definition 2007
anitique wood and cloth jewelry trays, brass wire, DVD video, light bulb

Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT

October 27, 2007 – February 2, 2008

            The projection screen you see here is made up of antique cloth and wood trays for sorting objects used in the manufacture of jewelry.  If you look closely you will see the signs of use, initials carved in their edges, secret messages, tally marks, doodles, etc.  Glimpses of lives left behind are captured here in line and stain.  This is the most intriguing and beautiful thing about these objects.  You see them exactly how they were found.  They have a wonderful archeological appeal.  They are valuable artifacts.  I think about how many lives passed through and touched these objects, what were they like?  I imagine the hours and hours of labor, blood, sweat and tears shed upon these surfaces. They hold so many stories.
            The video images are of the hands of my wife and children playing in our yard.  I am casting these images onto the delicate surface, the boundary between surface and light blur.  They combine their strengths and perhaps give each other something they both need.  The bare bulb brings us to where we are now.