Revolution, Evolution, 1993
Revolution/Evolution (Akron Art Museum, 1993)
Essay by Barbara Tannenbaum, Chief Curator, Akron Art Museum, 1993
“The sculptures of Todd Slaughter in this exhibition will destroy themselves while they are on display. Their demise will occur not because of a sudden cataclysm but rather through a gradual, relentless process of disintegration. Each work sets two elements in opposition, one standing for the human body and the other representing the external forces that form our environment. These may be natural, societal or psychological ones; they are represented by abstract geometric forms such as spheres or cylinders that defy specific associations. Two types of relationships are possible between the two elements: one may prove to be the stronger and enduree, but more frequently they destroy each other."   

Leaving a Mark, One R.P.M., march 1992, shows evidence of both types of relationships. The wall-mounted sculpture consists of two units, each a hand grasping a sphere  and poised atop a cylinder. The image of the hand holding a sphere in its fingertips, center to much of Slaughter’s work over the past two years, interjects the possibility of human contro over external forces. Taken from a book analyzing the hand by John Napier, it represents ”the precision grip,” which allows the hand to control things and  symbolizes the muscular co-ordination that has enabled humans to develop and use tools.

Although at first the two units of Leaving a Mark appear identical, time and motion reveal that in one, the hand and sphere are cast from graphite that wears down as it rotates against a steel cylinder. In its twin, the materials are reversed and the sphere draws ever deeper furrows in a graphite cylinder. In each unit, one element triumphs; taken together, both humans and the forces they battle are worn down. The precision grip is also featured in Slipping Hands, One R.P. M., February 1993, which consists of four sets of hands cast from salt holding cylinders of cast red pepper and paprika. As the cylinders turn against the irregularly shaped fingertips, both erode. Desk and Table, April 1993, a cast iron desk, further distills the essence of this interrelationship. The salt erodes the iron while the iron rusts the salt in  slow mutual destruction.

Slaughter injects complexity (and hope) into his metaphors by choosing materials – salt and pepper – that have preservative as well as corrosive properties. In fact, the graphite, salt, and pepper do not perish but instead undergo a transformation from solid to a powder, ending up heaped on the floor below the sculpture. Finally, the works have a suble but definite sensual presence, engaging vision, hearing adnd smell to suggest that the passage from creation to destruction  can be affirming and, indeed, pleasurable.

Slaughter’s work has long mediated on fragility and mortality through abstracted forms. Here, he has more directly expressed these concerns in purposedly ephemeral artworks. These issues may have gained added urgency because of recent events in his personal life, including the artist’s fifieth birthday and  recent death of a parent. The truths they suggest, however, are both universal and timeless.”

•Two Theories of Revolution  - Each glass box contains a solid wheel of compressed graphite powder, a motor, and cast metal leaves. In both boxes, the metal leaves, dragging against the graphite surface, plows and grinds the wheel back to graphite dust. Within one box the wheel is rotating, while the leaves are stationary; within the other box the leaves are being dragged while the wheel is stationary.
•Slipping Hands, One R.P.M., February, 1993, 1993, Cast red pepper, cast salt, steel adnd electric motors; each 8” x 6” x 9”
• Leaving A Mark, One R.P.M., March 1992, 1992, cast graphitie, steel and electric motors; 28” x 9” x 12”
• Grinding Knuckles, One R.P.M., December 1992, 1992, cast graphite, steel and electric motors; 9” x 18” x 9”
• Falling Hand, September, 1992, 1992, cast salt, one r.p.m. motor
• Grinding Fist, September, 1992, 1992, cast salt, one r.p.m. motor
• Try to Hold onto the Ball, July 1992, 1992, paprika, one r.p.m. motor
• Hand and Sphere, July 1992, 1992cast graphite, one r.m.p. motor
• Cupped Hands, September 1994, 1994, cast graphite, one r.p.m. motor

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