NOTES ON TRUTH #5 (2005), BY MAYME KRATZ
ACQUIRED FROM RENEE GEORGE GALLERY, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, JUNE 2005
INK, PAPER, AND CAST RESIN, 6" CUBE
Mayme Kratz' art focuses on the concept of embedding objects within blocks of cast resin. In many of her works, she uses found objects from the Arizona desert where she lives... insects, seed pods, and even entire cacti have found their way into Mayme's works. In other works, Mayme embeds poems that she has written. This is one of those works.

This cube of deep walnut resin contains a sheet of thin paper (to me, it looks like tracing paper) onto which the following poem has been printed (text that's visible is shown in italics):

I am walking softly,
trying to touch what disappears.
You, me, and the vapor of maybe.

Leaving then,
molecules rearranged,
years to recognize,
I am no longer who I was.
You, were never who I thought you were.

Pieces of time together
I have no memory of.
History vanished.

I am certain to know
I am the property
of my original substance.
One thing I really like about this work is how you can only see a small portion of the poem. The rest is concealed either by how the paper has been crumpled, or by the limited translucence of the resin itself. There's an element of mystery here not found in other works, where the entire work is visible. Also, the cubic form of the work allows it to be displayed in many different orientations. (The math-loving part of me really likes cubes.)

But I guess the coolest thing about this work is how the poem is embedded inside the resin, similar to an insect embedded in a piece of amber. Who knows how long the poem will remain locked away, protected from the world?

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