This new series of sculptures by Rirkrit Tiravanija was initiated on a recent residency at Greenwich House Pottery in New York. Working with ceramics and venturing into this new medium, Tiravanija has been able to chart his political interventions across a new medium.
The artist describes the act of making pottery as, “kind of like a meditative activity” and stated that, “it gives you time to think about everything else you have to do, or could be doing, or dealing with. It’s like cooking that way. I’m interested in slowing everything down so that you can look at the details. The reason I make the things that I do, and the way that I do, is just to give people space to stop and pause. To stop and pause at this point is a kind of transgression.”
For these new works, Tiravanija has created two ceramic military boots with a dark glaze. Within the boot Rirkrit will place a fresh Hong Kong orchid flower, which will protrude from the opening of the boot. These works will then be displayed on polished, mirrored stainless steel plinths. The work references militarism and more specifically the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong, in which a 14-year-old girl was arrested for drawing a chalk flower on a wall where thousands were displaying protest artworks and their wishes for the future. The arrest sparked widespread criticism and triggered a numerous copycat chalk-drawing protests in the city. Her case was reported all around the globe and the police overreaction was relentlessly parodied by supporters and illustrators in numerous cartoons and articles. The world dubbed her Chalk Girl.