*Maya III* Update
Jarvis Rockwell’s “Maya III,” which resembles a large stepped pyramid was inspired by the ancient Hindu temples of India. In Sanskrit Maya means illusion. It certainly speaks to pop-culture and media overload/worship that we all experience in American culture. It was completed for the opening of DownStreet Art, and I never get tired of visiting it.
All the thousands of actions figures, even with museum wax attached to their feet, do not like to stay in place! On a daily basis Jarvis is placing them back on the pyramid – I blame all the heat and humidity we have been having lately.
In addition to the pyramid, Jarvis is completing a drawing-in-residence. Here he is just starting.
Maya III/Down Street Art Update
Down Street Art will be opening soon on the 26th of June and running through October. Today I helped with one of the four galleries that will be opening. I along with fellow B-Hipper Caroline Collins spent most of the day walking along a 9 ft pyramid placing all kinds of toys/ action figures with wax upon its upper level. Jarvis Rockwell, the artist of the piece was lots of fun to work with. He gave us freedom to do what we wanted but he also gave us suggestions about where to place items. It will look pretty amazing by the 26th.
The exhibit is located at 73 Main St., North Adams and Jarvis will also be doing a wall drawing in residence. Greylock Arts, Turbulance and MCLA Gallery 51 will be exhibiting the North Adams portion of ‘Lumens, Networked Realities: (Re)Connecting the Adamses’ down the street at 61 Main Street.
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There so many different types of action figures and toys that Jarvis has collected – it was so much fun to go through them and to pick and choose!
Maria spent time unpacking and sorting through all the toys – notice all the boxes in the background. There are tables filled with crazy action figures. One of the most time consuming parts of this project (aside from the building of the pyramid) is taking all the toys out of their child-proof packaging.
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I asked Jarvis to pose for me in front of the pyramid and he happily obliged, and grabbed a wooly figure to accomany him in the picture.
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So, far the smoking baby and smoking cupcakes are my favorite toys. The variety of objects is really astounding.
