Advocates for Art – Installation Art Event by ARTBENT Productions
January 5, 2017

“Daze gone by…”

Ethaniel F. Taylor was born May 12, 1993 in Los Osos, CA and died October 4, 2014 two blocks from this installation space. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Ethan was twenty-one years old. This installation is a tribute to his life and my emotional reaction to his untimely death. Ethan will be remembered for many good things, including his courageous struggle with addiction to opioids.

Inspired to share, this installation is a glimmer of my personal journey through time, and with my obsession with objects - objects of affection described literally or imagined through memories and dreams about Ethan. Toy figures are precious and possess an archetypal journey, using lenses so the viewer can peer at totems as well as actual possessions Ethan and I both enjoyed.

“Bionical” and “Transformer” action figures were one of my son’s favorite toy puzzles from the age of eight to thirteen. All of which were given to him as birthday gifts and Christmas presents. Vicariously, I mimicked Ethan’s puzzle finding joy as I too pieced them back together, altering them in the process. Twenty-one of these toy objects are positioned singularly on floating shelves, each holding a glass lens for the viewer to gain visual access to yet another object of greater importance. A single light draws the viewer’s attention to those objects clarifying the view; objects appear near or distant, depending on the glass magnification.

A three-dimensional gilded shrine sits in the center of the room, surrounded by small lights that illuminate through it. It represents home, the Divine and transformative place where lights cast dappled shadows of muted objects contained within its structure. The shrines internal structure is laden with open space and cotton strings that cut back and fourth like clotheslines tethered to posts. Tied to the strings are wishes, Ethan’s infant booties, death offerings from Ethan’s family and friends, and a paper casted gun depicting my son’s eternal choice and last waking breath.

In a dream, Ethan was standing perfectly still on the edge of a sidewalk next to a busy downtown street that lay between us. His body faced me as if he was waiting for me to see him. He wore his signature clean white t-shirt, jeans and black skateboard Vans, but his entire head was wrapped tight with pure white gauze…

Strands of translucent filament are gathered above the shrine and threaded through white gauze stretched across the ceiling. The filament glistens and falls to the floor. Leaves collected in the fall are spread over the existing carpet, they decay and crunch as viewer’s walk through the space.