Vija Celmins
To Fix the Image in Memory (1977-82)
* a series of 11 rocks and their artificial pair, painted bronze
“I got the idea for this piece while walking in northern New Mexico
picking up rocks, as people do. I’d bring them home and I kept the good
ones. I noticed that I kept a lot that had galaxies on them. I carried
them around in the trunk of my car. I put them on window sills. I lined
them up. And, finally, they formed a set, a kind of constellation. I
developed this desire to try and put them into an art context. Sort of
mocking art in a way, but also to affirm the act of making: the act of
looking and making as a primal act of art.” By having each original rock
installed with its duplicate, Celmins invites the viewer to examine
them closely: “Part of the experience of exhibiting them together with
the real stones,” she has said, “was to create a challenge for your
eyes. I wanted your eyes to open wider.”
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