MATRICIDE
Phil Saunders
My project came into being simply.
We found the old fence corner and it immediately struck me as not only a legacy of the landscape in a simpler and more organic time but also a would be if not actual variance on The Crucifix at which point I draped myself.
It was very open then as you can see and when I came back to do my art installation it was completely overgrown to the point that I had trouble finding it. When I finally did, I was interested in clearing it and then I thought no: the overgrowth of my corner is absolutely in keeping with the overgrowth of civilization onto the earth and the overgrowth of the earth onto those parts of our civilization which are already crumbling.
To say that this was an organic involvement is understatement at its most full.
It began with my conception of a paper maché globe and naturally morphed into my lovely wife and co-conspirator, Karen Reppen finding a discarded table and thinking that it was in some way related to my global destruction which indeed as you can clearly see it is.
I’m seeing our globe as being crucified and impaled and in fact ravaged and plundered and bitten & kicked.
And enjoying so much the contradictions of us all and of our arrogance and of our refusal to cooperate with the universe.
We of humanity if we can truly be called that
Have committed the most heinous of all crimes
M A T R I C I D E ! ! !
What have we done to the earth, yeah? What have we
done to our fair Mother? Ravaged and plundered and
ripped her and bit her Stuck her with knives in the
side of the dawn and Tied her with fences and
dragged her down
— Jim Morrison back when
Unchecked breeding – our mattress side . . .
Befouled the Waters
Befouled the Earth
Befouled the Air
As we are now Heir . . . to the just yet unrelenting
C O R R E C T I O N
Issued by Herself
To save Herself
At any cost
Phil Saunders was born in 1949 and grew up – ostensibly – on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay on the south shore of the Nanticoke River, referred to by Conroy and others as “the low country.” Not above sea level but above high tide, which it ain’t always. He traveled extensively in his youth, landing in Madison, WI. “peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” –Bokonon via Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Primarily a performance artist, Mr. Saunders is attempting a visual installation at The Farley Center out of regard for its mission and an attempt to develop his character.