Jo Jackson

The bowl and time

The bowl and time is comprised of two videos shown simultaneously on two monitors. (The edition also includes two prints – a static souvenir.) Both videos show a drawing of cut glass bowls, placed on pedestals, which extend into real pedestals. Situated in front of alternating backgrounds of red and purple the bowls slowly become yellow with age while the video progresses. A stripe of the background color invades the bowl and it shatters. Whiteness comes down like a shutter and rises again with the same bowl in a different colored world.

The drawing is a copy of the patent design for a bowl manufacturer in the USA in the early 20th century. There was once a strong industry there for pressed glass, which output has been reduced massively due to outsourcing to low-wage countries. The changing of the color, the static of the cut glass bowl and its shattering suggest a circular concept of time. The color study meditation reflects processes of decay, aging, changing and staying the same.