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WAREHOUSE 13

Warehouse 13 Theme

This series of works is inspired by the science fiction television show: “Warehouse 13” in which special investigators observe unusual phenomena around the world and try to see if specific artifacts are the cause.  Special historically connected artifacts that have unique powers usually given birth by powerful events in history, have to be captured or collected and safely brought back to Warehouse 13, a  secret government facility in the badlands of South Dakota.  Throughout  history shaman or artists have made objects that “contain” special powers.  Making the jump to ordinary objects also having special powers was intriguing for me.  So I started using objects that I have collected over the years that I found interesting for any number of reasons and started imagining them as artifacts. The titles for these pieces are intended to make reference to some mythological or historical event. Example: “Warehouse 13: The Dionysus Vessel, Awarded To Midas” There are many variations on the Greek and Roman myths of Dionysus and Midas. Dionysus was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal Semele. He was often depicted as having violent or unpredictable behavior and drunken merrymaking associated with the drinking of wine, but he was also given credit for teaching humans farming techniques and the Greek’s concept for tragedy in drama came from a ceremony honoring him. Dionysus gave Midas, the king of Phrygia, the power to turn everything he touched into gold because he had helped Dionysus’ teacher Silenus. Of course the power became a curse because Midas could not eat or drink. Midas prayed to Dionysus for help. The version of this story that I responded to is based on this idea: Dionysus gave Midas a vessel containing the power to take away the golden touch. Midas poured the contents into the river Pactolus and bathed in it to remove the curse and the sands of the river then turned to gold. This piece is about one of those objects that have “magical powers”, objects that symbolically “contain” in a box that “contains” a story. Try to find the connections in the other Warehouse boxes.

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