Artist Lecture: Francis Cape

I attended Francis Cape's lecture this afternoon, and I had mixed feelings about it. I was frustrated that he skipped around in time a lot - most of the artists that come to lecture go through their work chronologically so that we can see an evolution or progression, but Cape skipped from one work to the next and back again. Aside from being picky over the way he spoke, I did think that the lecture was interesting, as was some of his work.

Francis Cape stated that he used to make "art about art," but that has steadily changed for him since the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004. Since that time, he has become increasingly concerned with the world we live in. He also spoke of his particular concern with the transience of our culture and possessions - he said that artists are no longer making work that lasts, but transient objects to fit in with our society today.

I found his piece, "Waterline" to be the most moving/interesting. "Waterline" features photographs of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The images are installed in a gallery, framed and hung above wainscoting made from wood paneling taken from one of the flooded houses. The images (some of which are posted below) show the well defined line that marked the depth of the flood waters. In the installation, the wainscoting comes to the height of the interior waterline in the house it was taken from. Cape said that, in his exploration of the devastated neighborhoods of New Orleans, he was struck by the obvious realization that the tragedy did not just happen in the "bad" or poor neighborhoods, but rather to everyone that lived there. The installation of the wainscoting is important to the viewer's understanding of the overwhelming situation. You can see "Waterline" installed at the Anderson Gallery on Friday.