Web

Web, (2004/2017) is a recreation of an original work from 2004 that Gary Ross Pastrana made during a residency in Bangkok. Without a fixed plan of works to produce for his residency, the artist used found objects and items easily purchased from grocery stores or local markets. 

For this work, the artist plays with material and challenges perception by creating literal “hairline” cracks on a ceramic plate, using ordinary dish soap to arrange and adhere strands of found human hair. The resulting photograph engages with notions of fragility and ephemerality and draws attention to the relationship between perception and reality. For the artist, using hair was interesting because “loose hair strands in the bath, clogging the drain, will sometimes be one of the first few things couples who start living together might fight about.”