Res Ipsa Loquitur! 2005 - 2009

Italian Marble, Travertine; 5’ x 2’ x 5’ (150 x 60 x 150 cm)

The source imagery is from the remnants of a temple that was recently unearthed on the Northeastern side of the Aegean Sea. It was destroyed in the 4th Century AD when Christianity replaced paganism as the official religion of the Roman Empire.

The piece “Res Ipsa Loquitur!” fits into the body of work that I have been doing for the past decade or so. I use known artifacts from early western culture to question where we have come from in relation to the contemporary context of global consciousness. The old mindsets can’t work in post-manned spaceflight consciousness. The new global consciousness is based on the witnessing of the earth as a fragile object; experience is much stronger than information.

“Res Ipsa Loquitur!” is a reflection or a reminder of the responsibility and the precarious nature of political power. The rise and the fall of Rome is still the benchmark for Western power. In the shadow of manned spaceflight, our answers can’t come from the past. We have to let go in order to move forward: remembering the past, but not applying it as a model of the future. We have entered a new age. Our use of the planet speaks for itself, just as the use of power speaks for itself.

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