Arthur Gonzalez
Cadence of Stupidity: Stinger, 1999, ceramic, glass, silver tray, human hair, cloth, silver, bronze, stainless steel shavings, 11" x 16" x 11", Courtesy: John Elder Gallery, New York, NY
The original 1840 manuscript, Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, is provocatively dark. In the story, the Pinocchio/Gepetto relationship gives way to the strange relationship between Pinocchio and his apparent guardian angel, the Blue Haired Fairy.
Saving his life many times, she appears to him, not as a gossamer winged specter, but as either a little girl or a beautiful young woman (for reasons of her own). Pinocchio is confused. She is clever and he is profoundly "wooden."
The story is riddled with his incessant idiotic mistakes, which result in many accounts of physical pain. The tale symbolically becomes a grotesque Baroque religious painting. An archaistic question is implied, "Is woman a sanctuary or a prison?" The current question (and more apt): "In whose hands does Fate rest its head?" Ultimately, this is not a male/female question, but a statement about personal responsibilities.
The series that resulted is called The Cadence of Stupidity where the subjects of Pinocchio are fleshed out by the energy of the Baroque and grafted onto my own Pinocchio nature.
