Future Retrieval CrystalWalled Seas
Through a Glass, Lightly By Garth Johnson
I.
Surely the very whispering of the breeze that has travelled so far over that vast moving surface of the fathomless deep, and which seems muttering of its mysteries, while laden with its sweet saline odour—”ce parfum acre de la mer” as Dumas has termed it—might lead us towards other and higher trains of thought. - Noel Humphreys, Ocean Gardens (1857)
He who is staring at the sea is already sailing a little. - Paul Carvel
A
long with countless pandemic
were popularized in the 1850s as an
puppies and Covid kittens
outgrowth of the Victorian craze for
that were adopted over the
“Ward’s cases”, early terrariums for
course of the COVID-19 lockdown, it is
ferns that provided self-contained,
estimated that the saltwater aquarium
miniature worlds to help residents
industry grew by almost 90%.1 This
block out the squalor and pollution of
should come as no surprise, since
urban London.
the context for the home aquarium in western culture has morphed and
The Arizona-based collaborative duo
changed with every decade to reflect
of Katie Parker and Guy Michael Davis,
society’s mores. Home aquariums
better known as Future Retrieval, are
no strangers to self-contained worlds. Their art practice is rooted in the cloistered
diversions from the blistering heat that
II.
range
indoor
malls
from and
study of institutional
theme
and cultural archives,
to the proliferation of
and
backyard pools that
then
reified
through shared labor
restaurants
dot the valley.
in the studio. Over the fifteen years of their
Unsurprisingly,
collaboration as Future
complex history of the
Retrieval, the duo has
home aquarium comes
probed such disparate
with its own body of
realms as mycological
literature. The earliest
cultivation,
tomes that emerged
hothouse
the
palace intrigue, Arcadian landscapes,
from Victorian London were written
Arts and Crafts-era interiors, and 17th
in the mold of Philip Henry Gosse’s
century Cabinets of Curiosity.
Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea (1854), which lays
Their budding obsession with the home
aquarium
parallels the seismic upheavals personal
in
out a contemporary body of research into the propagation
III.
of plant and marine
their
life and offers up
life—the
practical
tips
London,
like,
birth of twin babies,
“In
coupled with a move
water may be easily
from their longtime
obtained
base of Cincinnati to
a trifling fee to the
the desert environs of
master or steward of
Scottsdale,
by
seagiving
Arizona.
any of the steamers
With
temperatures
that ply beyond the
that
can
reach
mouth of the Thames,
120 degrees in the
charging him to dip it
summer, Arizona is
in the clear open sea,
home to a flourishing home
aquarium
beyond
the
reach
community—part
of rivers,” but also leaves plenty of
of a larger ecosystem of escapist
space for philosophy and travelogue-
2
style writing. Gosse writes impactfully
for Future Retrieval as any cultural
about his own experiences rambling
archive. Despite H. Noel Humphreys’s
along the British coast.
protestations
about
“vulgar
eyes,”
aquariums have always had a theatrical Crystal-Walled Seas takes its name
element, immersing their viewers in
from H. Noel Humphreys’s florid
a fantasy world. Humphreys himself
writings that pile both lyrical flights of
wrote that “…in fact, they are not, or the
fancy and proscriptive admonitions
visitor to the seaside, looking over that
about not creating a spectacle for
wide tremulous expanse of water that
“vulgar eyes.”3 Humphreys was not
covers so many mysteries, would feel,
alone in his hand-wringing about the
like the child taken for the first time
role of the home aquarium. Victorian
within the walls of a theatre, an intense
writers took
in
great
Britain pains
anxiety to raise the dark green curtain
IV.
to ensure that the
which
endeavor of building
the scene of fairy
an aquarium was
wonders
seen as a legitimate
greedily longing to
scientific
behold and enjoy.”5
pursuit.
Americans, the
other
conceals he
is
on hand,
Chief
among
immediately
the
positioned
the
Crystal-Walled
a
Seas that exploit
aquarium
as
hobby
venture
this
artifacts
of
connection
that could easily be turned into a
are Future Retrieval’s Swim Through
business. While the British aquarium
sculptures. These peculiar domestic
offered a platform for self-reflection
objects mirror the materiality and
and
Americans
display strategies of Chinese scholar
emphasized either recreation, didactic
scientific
inquiry,
rocks—transportive bits of weathered
education, or even the use of the
limestone meant to evoke the alien
aquarium as a tool for social reform.4
beauty
of
the
Southern
Chinese
landscape. The Swim Through series The abundance of slippage between
also marks a break with the elaborate
worlds and meanings makes the
industrial techniques the duo has used
aquarium as fertile of a site of inquiry
to construct their miniature worlds.
V.
Instead of 3D scanning and CNC
The Swim Through sculptures are
milling, its forms take shape from
accentuated by another series of
simple cut paper, and are laboriously
sculptures that exploit the tension
hand-modeled using the simplest of
between the natural world and the built
tools. The stoneware glazes used on
environment. Vegetation of the Marine
the pieces amplify Future Retrieval’s
Aquarium takes its self-explanatory
careful sense of craft with an array
title from a chapter in Humphreys’s
of
that
book. Various silhouettes of seaweeds
sometimes sit on the surface of the
and other aquatic plants are given
piece, but are often subjected to
a graphic emphasis through being
multiple firings until they are almost
water jet cut from aluminum, then
subsumed
powder coated in vibrant colors. In
colorful
surfaces.
hand-cut
into
decals
liquid,
miasmic
contrast to the Swim Through series,
which are organic shapes that flow
Their interpretations of illustrations by
from a geometric base, the Vegetation
H. Noel Humphreys, Elizabeth Twining,
series uses casually balled-up chunks
and James Sowerby literally become
of unglazed clay to offset the two-
wallpaper, but subvert the domestic
dimensional aluminum shapes.
space and the language of material culture through the application of
As is their custom, Future Retrieval
scientific imagery drawn from the
use cut paper to serve as a through
corpus of writing about the domestic
line for their thoughts and research.
aquarium.
Crystal-Walled Seas contains an array of hand-cut wallpapers that draws
Although latch hook and shagged rugs
from their experience as research
often evoke hazy memories of 1970s
fellows in Cincinnati’s Lloyd Library.
bong room décor, they have their roots
VI.
in 1850s Victorian Britain, as does
the duo with the ability to wear their
the home aquarium. In the low-tech,
rigorous
high touch spirit of Ocean Gardens,
its muse, the home aquarium, there
process
Future Retrieval have created a five-foot
lightly.
Befitting
are more points
VII.
of entry for the
hand
casual
viewer,
knotted wool rug
more avenues for
that
its
reinforces
constituent
the intertwined
parts
garden
a
and
to
take
potent
place
u n d e r s e a
within
imagery
domestic spheres
the
that
wallpaper
the
of new owners.
draws on. The effect
of
The
Future
Retrieval
Garden Tapestry
telegraphed their
is similar to their
new momentum
miasmic
and direction in
glaze
effects, softening the hard edges of
the title of the exhibition, which is drawn
the exhibition’s cut paper aesthetic,
from Victorian writings that emphasize
further inviting reverie and reflection
the interiority of the aquarium owner,
on the part of the viewer.
with the aquarium serving as a vehicle for self-reflection and self-betterment.
Crystal-Walled Seas marks a new
Future Retrieval have spent the past
chapter in the work of Future Retrieval.
decade and a half exploring our
Where earlier exhibitions and projects
material culture, but increasingly, they
served as densely-woven tapestries
are learning to harness their skill set to
of research, labor, and industrial
explore fantasy, phenomenology, and
innovation, this exhibition provides
the worlds within.
1 Whiteside B. Dive in: Saltwater aquariums are hobby, as well as colorful home decor. TCA Regional News. Nov 23, 2021. 2 Gosse, Philip Henry. The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea. by Philip Henry Gosse, F.R.S. “the Sea Is His, and He Made It.” Ps. XCV. 5. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row, 1856.
3 Humphreys, Henry Noel. Ocean Gardens: The History of the Marine Aquarium, and the Best Methods Now Adopted for Its Establishment and Preservation. Second Edition, Enlarged and Corrected by the Author ; River Gardens: Being an Account of the Best Methods of Cultivating Fresh-Water Plants in Aquaria, in Such a Manner as to Afford Suitable Abodes to Ornamental Fish, and Many Interesting Kinds of Aquatic Animals. Sampson Low, Son, and Co., 1857. 4 Hamera, Judith. Parlor Ponds the Cultural Work of the American Home Aquarium, 18501970. University of Michigan Press, 2012. 5 Humphreys, Henry Noel. Ocean Gardens. Sampson Low, Son, and Co., 1857.
VIII.
Garth Johnson is the Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. Johnson is a self-described craft activist who explores craft’s influence and relevance in the 21st century. His research interests range from 1960s and 70s artist-led movements in the field of ceramics to the intersection of clay, video, and performance. His recent exhibitions at the Everson include The Floating Bridge: Postmodern and Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, Renegades & Reformers: American Art Pottery, and Earth Piece: Conceptual and Performative Works in Clay. His writing has been published nationally and internationally, with recent contribution to the books Repositioning Paolo Soleri: The City is Nature and Victor Cicansky: The Gardener’s Universe.
Future Retrieval
Crystal-Walled Seas APRIL 22 - JUNE 4, 2022 DENNY DIMIN GALLERY, NEW YORK
IX.
IMAGES Cover: Future Retrieval The Garden, Panel IV (detail), 2022 Hand cut paper 55 x 33 in/140 x 84w cm I. Future Retrieval Swim Through, Floral Puff, 2022 Stoneware 19 x 17 x 12.5 in/48 x 43 x 32 cm II. Future Retrieval Swim Through, Drop, 2022 Stoneware 22 x 14 x 13 in/56 x 36 x 33 cm III. Future Retrieval Adaptation, Spectacle, 2022 Stoneware and tamise leaf 16.5 x 10.5 x 8.5 in/42 x 27 x 22 cm IV. Future Retrieval Swim Through, Moss, 2022 Stoneware 19 x 17 x 12.5 in/48 x 43 x 32 cm
V. Future Retrieval Vegetation of the Marine Aquarium VIII, 2022 Powder coated aluminum, stoneware 12.75 x 5 x 4 in/32 x 13 x 10 cm VI. Future Retrieval The Garden, 2022 Hand cut paper Each panel 55 x 33 in/140 x 84 cm VII. Future Retrieval Adaptation, Bubbler, 2021 Stoneware and porcelain 16 x 14 x 7 in/41 x 36 x 18 cm VIII. Future Retrieval The Garden Tapestry, 2021 Wool 60 x 34 x 1 in/152 x 86 x 3 cm IX. Future Retrieval Adaptation, Slouch, 2022 Stoneware and overglaze decals 21.5 x 9.5 x 8 in/55 x 24 x 20 cm
All artwork © Future Retrieval and Courtesy Denny Dimin Gallery. Text © Garth Johnson.
DENNY DIMIN G A L L E R Y