2023
Grain, resin, gold leaf, silver paint, wood, table legs
Panels are 24″ x 24″ x 9″
Panels can also hang on the wall rather than as an installation.
Conceptually this piece is about what is considered valuable. In the developed world what is considered wealth is quite different from that of the developing world. Our decadence is gilded in gold and silver. For the majority of the world – wealth is measured by what one has to eat. We are 8 billion people now and that number is growing quickly in regions that have the least ability to support the food needs of the people. These same regions happen to also be the locations of rare earth minerals, metals, and gems that are mined for the first world to supply our insatiable luxury lifestyles (computers, electronics, jewelry, status symbols, etc.)
Each panel is made from a commodity crop that has been painted with silver and leafed with gold.
The name G(u)ilt is from the guilt we should feel for exploiting the resources of people from countries that do have wealth but that wealth is not dispersed.
and Gilt – to cover with a thin layer of gold (symbolizing the thin layer that covers how closely we all are to that same level of sustenance poverty and food insecurity.)
karrie hovey : habitat | habit, Red Fox Contemporary, Pound Ridge, NY, 2023