Supine Effigy
Thomas Hutton, 2019
A supine effigy lies still and flat. It emerges from the ground through clay or stone as slab or block. Effigies are ‘formed from’ ex fingere. They figure out the forgotten rubble of bones below into a body recomplete above to remember. Carved, cast, or moulded into being to sleep lifeless upon a pillow of stone or bronze, to set memory in place, to be stepped over and around. Their eyes are never opened but gaze up. Their arms cross or their hands meet in prayer or to read. But the eyes and prayers are empty stone dead. A building is a body with interior and exterior. Face façade facing surface. Layers of skin enclose flesh that is insulation, tissue, muscle. Bones are structure. The upright spine is a pier of compressive strength to hold it up. Limbs support and extend and reach. Joints connect but grow weary with time and stress. Breaks mend with plaster. The brain is intelligence and the network. The heart is a pump. Pipes are arteries and veins. Air flows in and out. The hall is an open mouth. The basement is the belly and the bowels. Pipes flush waste away. Memories are stored in the attic. Glass windows are eyes for looking.
Materials: Statuary Hydrocal, Magic-Sculpt, plaster bandages, Pilot pen, steel tubing, copper tubing, assorted paper tubes, pvc tubing, Chinese New Year confetti guns, mylar balloon, duct tape, green tape, blue tape, blue tape roll, Coors Light cans (12, 16, 25 fl oz), Coca-Cola can, coffee cups, American Spirit packets, Spicy Village takeout containers,Paint-Force roll, Reynolds Wrap box, Glad bag box, McDonald’s sliced mushroom seasoned blend box, McDonald’s tangy barbeque sauce box, McDonald’s shredded lettuce box, HP Scanjet Pro 2000 box, Architectural Digest magazines, card, paper, museum board, Lithonia lighting box, broom handle, tree branch, acrylic.