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MORE OF THE SAME An interior mural-in-the-round / installation with
removable paintings. Acrylic housepaint, paint marker, sugar paste, Sintra, lollipops, cupcake
wrappers, and string.
Basekamp, Philadelphia, PA 2006
The sidewalks are full of love's lonely children: "More of
the Same" by Eric McDade.
Back to dish out more finger-pointing and blame-shifting,
Eric McDade turns his creative attention to the same fodder that's gotten him nowhere fast: relationships. Only this time,
it's not a survey of individualized confessions and condemnations he's offering up like so many plates of ambrosia
at a family picnic. Using the metaphor of children overindulging on sweets, this new mural-in-the-round conveys a narrative
that explores the cyclical nature of past relationships, from first encounter to licking one's wounds.
In the landscape
ruled, or at least inhabited by children, a sugar overdose is marked by insomnia, exhaustion, red eyes and crying jags. In
search of respite, the children are led to a cottage in the woods with promises of wish fulfillment. But instead, they unwittingly
become key ingredients in their host's enterprise. After which, they're turned loose to sleepwalk their way through
the evening landscape, which is littered with dangers both natural and man-made. Eventually, as in the aftermath of a relationship,
everyone finds their way back to home base relatively safely, if a bit damaged and dazed, and maybe even looking forward to
their next helping of sweets.
While McDade may not be reading us direct passages from his padlocked diary anymore, he's
definitely staying true to form by maintaining his nearly-formulaic "innocents in peril" approach to weaseling out
of accepting responsibility for his past faults and mistakes. "Love is a trap" seems to be the mantra here, and
it is repeated not so much to reach Nirvana, but just to get back to normal with as much of ourselves still intact as we can
manage.
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| Click on the above image for a Quicktime video of the installation. |
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