Milk
2024 Winter
The superposition of stillness and movement.
Paired together, the chair and the written word represent a paradox between stillness and movement. The chair is an ageless example of inactivity. While the written word is produced from the act of doing, forward momentum, activity. Much like the two sides of the artist: The lazy and the crazy.
We wanted to more deeply explore the side of an artist’s inactivity. The state of the static artist. The emotions associated with this state are twofold: the teaser of peace once a project is complete, only to be replaced with feelings of restlessness and doubt prior to plunging into the next artistic endeavor.
‘Milk’ personifies this glimpse of satisfaction with the mundane between projects, written through the lens of a homeless person who is content with the constellation of pieces that make up their day-to-day life. This gratified feeling is often left out of the discussion, yet is integral for an artist’s motivation to carry on in the process of creation. Further, burning this poem into the flesh of the chair reminds us that without stillness there is no movement, it is a beast that breathes as one.
Pyrography by Aris Solomon
Poetry by Paige Psyhojos
Read the full poem below:
Milk
In the ocean each wave
has an expiration date
Like whole milk on a
bodega market shelf
He tears open the carton
Washing down his breakfast
On the pier where the silhouettes of
Those same tides disappear
Early yellow morning
construction workers yawning
They bathe in cement
eyes heavy with sleep and dawn
Pigeons bathe their feathers
in five star fountains
He bathes in cheap coffee
and imagination
In his sea of park benches
became his safe haven
A deserted wasteland
to hold conversation
Talking to his toothbrush
Yet never is heard
Time sails with the clouds
But that’s the way he prefers
The mask of noon skies
Have midnight faces
Steel castles made up
With pillows and blankets
He has taken his bets
And horses out the races
His smile doesn't expire
Like the bodega market milk
