Dove Bradshaw
born 1949, New York, NY
works in New York, NY
Indeterminacy XV, activated July 16, 1997, Vermont marble, pyrite, 24" x 96" x 40", Lent by the Artist, Courtesy Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, NY.
Dove Bradshaw combines an interest in alchemy with the inspiration that she received from the works and ideas of the artist Marcel Duchamp and the composer John Cage to create works that unite science with the aesthetics of chance. Duchamp and Cage incorporated elements of chance, irreversibility, and external stimuli into their work.
Bradshaw began her "Indeterminacy Series" after the death of John Cage in 1992. These works depend entirely upon the juxtapositions between particular stones and minerals. Atop large chunks of marble or limestone, slabs of pyrite or "fool's gold" are placed. As the elements affect the pyrite, a chemical reaction occurs and decomposition sets in. The decomposing mass bleeds onto the stone below creating an array of orange, red, brown, and yellow stains. The complete decomposition of the pyrite, depending on its original size and environmental exposure, can take from a few years to a century to occur. The base stones and the pyrite create tensions between each that act as metaphors for the chance interrelationships of art, nature, and time.
