Matt Siegle

Matt Siegle
Sculpture For A Field #5: Sun
March 20, 2022, 8:33 AM and 4:33 PM
Location: (34.199364, -116.365554)

For how we are in time and space: Annotations, Siegle will realize a new work on a Bureau of Land Management plot in Yucca Valley, on March 20, 2022, at 8:33 AM and again at 4:33 PM. Titled Sculpture For A Field #5: Sun, the work draws an ephemeral line in space: “Find the center point of a field, and starting at this point, walk in concentric circles until reaching the edge, gradually increasing diameter.” Sun is part of a trio of artworks Siegle considers to be earthworks, including Dirt Piece, executed in October, 2020, and a work in progress, which he began on March 18, 2020.

In Dirt Piece, I traveled across the country, kissing the ground every 100 miles. Dirt Piece is constrained by the limits of the continent, where ocean water meets land: beginning at (43.2661895, -70.5876474) and ending at (47.0236477, -124.1733743). While moving across the country, I passed through the US geographic center at (39.8286557, -98.5772455). These movements were tracked by mark making: each day I wore a different color of lipstick, blotting my lips on a postcard before my lips marked the ground. The postcards are postmarked from their respective locations.

Another work began at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: On March 18, 2020, as a substitute for a canceled trip to the sunny West Coast, I traveled to the very easternmost point of the United States (44.815475, -66.950039)). On March 18, 2022, I will travel to a very westernmost point of the United States (22.064879, -159.783465). The center point of this axis falls somewhere near (33.822667, -113.541260).

These works were informed in part by Siegle’s ongoing interest in the journey performances of Barbara T. Smith, including The Way to Be (1972) and 21st Century Odyssey (1991-93). Smith has described her performances as “works that have engaged me on a deeply felt level, often excruciating, sometimes ecstatic.” These acts of embodiment are focused on her “own inner growth rather than works intended to entertain an audience. Indeed, the role of the so-called audience is often that of witness, participant, or indirect observer. What I have wanted for the audience was a shared sense of immediate effect.”

Likewise, Siegle is deeply invested in embodiment and solitude, and less dependent on an immediate audience or even photographic documentation.

Sculpture For A Field #5: Sun is at an everyday scale. This past winter in Vermont, I had an experience with psilocybin where my sense of ego dissolved into the music I was listening to, such that I had no sense of being beyond the synthesizers and saxophones enveloping me. I pulled the Sun card directly after this experience, yet it was basically reversed. Back in our world of tangible objects and three-dimensional space, Sun is an artwork that simply exists by walking in circles; I think of this as an ephemeral sculpture and a geometric drawing.

On March 20, I will present Sun on a piece of public land in the Mojave Desert. In this location it will also function a queer spell for the public land to remain undeveloped. The artwork does not exist for an audience yet anyone is welcome to observe. No photography will be allowed, and it will not be documented.

This event will take place adjacent to Patricia Fernández’s Sunny Luna House.

Siegle asks that viewers please refrain from photography of the work.

Directions:

From Los Angeles take the 10 E to the 62.

As you are about to enter Joshua Tree, turn left on Yucca Mesa Rd and drive all the way to where the paved road ends at the Mesa Market.

Continue driving on the dirt road, turn right at Sunny Sands (one dirt road past Breezy Lane).

Do not drive down Breezy Lane as the sand is very soft and it is common to get stuck.
Siegle’s performance will take place on the 10 acres of BLM land to the east and west of Perris.

Patricia Fernández’s Sunny Luna House is located on the Sunny Sands side, and the five acre property extends southward to Breezy Lane.


Images courtesy of Matt Siegle.