summit - MAIDENS OF THE COSMIC BODY RUNNING

MAIDENS OF THE COSMIC BODY RUNNING

BETTER CLOSE THAN NEVER

A project imagining the romance of the river on a full-moon night.

conducted at the Summit and 21C Hotels as part of the FotoFocus Biennial.

Better Close Than Never interrogates our relationship with the natural world.

Hotels are powerful sites for the Maidens’ work, often situated near places of natural beauty, but providing a clean, safe ‘home base’ from which one can fantasize about the idealized natural world ‘just over there’.The Summit is near the confluence of The Ohio and Little Miami rivers. On full moon occurrences, the Maidens have occupied room 534 of the hotel, creating work that imagines gravitational lunar seduction and lush energy of the waters.

Their work lures the viewer into a state of 'RELAXION', not by immersing themselves in nature directly, but by experiencing its processed (and even sometimes abstracted) image through video, sculptural objects, clothing and other tools.

Follow their progress on Instagram

SHOP FOR RELAXION TOOLS HERE- Benefit Sale July 8 2023, 6-

9 pm at THE WELL.

SHOT

VIDEOS

GAZER
made to accompany the purchase of rings worn as finger decor or as viewfinders. Gaze at objects of desire by holding one of them up to your eye, and experience a heightened sense of desire, romance and intimacy. Try it- it works! It's just handy to keep on your finger.

A MAIDEN IS DRAWN TO THE CONFLUENCE
made to accompany a custom cocktail created for the residency

MINGLE
made to accompany a custom perfume created for the residency

UNRAFTED
made to accompany sculptures created for the residency. These pieces imagine stones tumbled and washed up onto the nocturnal riverside, their faces lovingly burnished by moonlight until they rest as pure platonic form.

LANDLESS
made to accompany sculptures created for the residency. Found at the confluence, these pieces sing of their picturesque embrace with the moon, full and pulling, warping the water and everything in it.

FLOH
made to accompany garments relaxion vehicles- When worn, the romance of the moon on the river will engulf the cooperating body and allow it to feel a sensation of weightless fluidity.

Scenic Overlook
a projection onto a large slumped screen. For this piece, the Maidens engaged the velvet voice of Bill Myers, final announcer for the hypnotic radio show Moon River, produced in Cincinnati from 1930-1970.

Stimularities
a video created for the residency, documenting the Maidens' play in room 534 as a primary site for romantic fantasies about the confluence.

STILL LIFE
a collection of pre-membered souvenirs from the confluence

BETTER CLOSEST
This video was projected onto the corner of the Summit Hotel gallery that sat the closest to the convergence of the Little Miami and Ohio rivers. The original version was silent and was not listed in the gallery guide. It was meant to simply be a subtly vibrating corner in the space.

IMAGES, OBJECTS

Fotomassage- You With Staff photo and acrylic paint on german etch paper 33" x 44"

Fotomassage- Witnesses photo and acrylic paint on german etch paper 33" x 41"

Fotomassage- The Book in Which photo and acrylic paint on german etch paper 33" x 52"

Fotomassage- Converge photo and acrylic paint on german etch paper 33" x 60"

Gazarch photo on german etch paper 28" x 37"

Reflaxions-upperhand photo on german etch paper 18" x 24"

Reflaxions-middleground photo on german etch paper 18" x 24"

Reflaxions-lowerlevel photo on german etch paper 19" x 18"

Telescopic Mast photo on german etch paper 24" x 15"