Last Supper/ Distilled Lives
"Insisting we see humanity of even the lowest criminals among us, she reminds us of our complicity in their de-humanization via the culturally-sanctioned myths about 'us' versus 'them.'"
-Jane Harris, Writer and Independent Curator, New York City 2008
"Last Suppers/Distilled Lives", an installation by artist Marion Wilson is a subtle yet layered exploration of issues surrounding the death penalty. The installation is comprised of discrete vignettes that reproduce the last meals chosen by five condemned criminals. By selecting this seemingly anecdotal angle, Wilson is able to engage a large subject at a very human point; after all, we all have our favorite foods. Among the artist's infamous subjects are Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh; serial killer Ted Bundy; Beverly Allitt, a British nurse convicted of killing thirteen babies; Manuel Pina Babbit, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and murderer; and Adolf Eichman, a Nazi war criminal.
Wilson's interest in this subject was sparked by a news story that appeared soon after the execution of Timothy McVeigh that detailed the last meal he ate before receiving the lethal injection that ended his life. McVeigh had changed his request several times before settling on two pints of mint chocolate-chip ice cream. A related story that has resonance for Wilson concerned a nun who opposed McVeigh's execution, despite being a survivor of the Oklahoma bombing. These two news items encompass some of the key themse that the artist decided to explore in this installation, including the issues of forgiveness, revenge, irony, social ritual, and institutionalized brutality.
Although Wilson seeks out specific information on each of her subjects, she filters this research through an ingrained aesthetic that is informed by Conceptual and post-Pop art practices. For instance, she employs a variety of media to portray the readily-identifiable still-life objects that both symbolize her subjects' last meals and reference aspects of their criminal situation. For Wilson, the careful choice of materials furthers the potential for meaning in her work. Among the media she uses are cast iron, bronze, and plastic, melting ice cream, a facsimile of cut glass, digital prints, and small somber paintings. Technique, too, plays a conceptual role: The casting processes that Wilson employs for the majority of the work allude to notions of presence and absence, volume and void, and the very human metaphors of body and nobody. Other formal strategies include massing and repetition, the use of text, and a conscious manipulation of gallery-display practices.
...
"The Last Supper, as I understand it," she explains, "was about sacrifice or forgiveness; it preceded a kind of martyrdom." Although the practice of allowing the condemned a final meal derives from uncertain origins, most indications point to secular custom rather than biblical influence. Hences, the last meal offered to the condemned becomes, in the artists's words, "a strange equation," a macabre irony that provides cruel comfort.
...
Rather than support a particular side of this contentious debate, Wilson intends her work to encourage discourse arounf the issues she set out to explore. Although she hopes to engage the viewer intellectually, Wilson also seeks to provide an encompassing sensate experience, one that can be felt as well as read."
Thomas Piché Jr.
Senior Curator
Everson Museum of Art
Syracuse NY 2003
"Insisting we see humanity of even the lowest criminals among us, she reminds us of our complicity in their de-humanization via the culturally-sanctioned myths about 'us' versus 'them.'"
-Jane Harris, Writer and Independent Curator, New York City 2008
-Jane Harris, Writer and Independent Curator, New York City 2008
"Last Suppers/Distilled Lives", an installation by artist Marion Wilson is a subtle yet layered exploration of issues surrounding the death penalty. The installation is comprised of discrete vignettes that reproduce the last meals chosen by five condemned criminals. By selecting this seemingly anecdotal angle, Wilson is able to engage a large subject at a very human point; after all, we all have our favorite foods. Among the artist's infamous subjects are Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh; serial killer Ted Bundy; Beverly Allitt, a British nurse convicted of killing thirteen babies; Manuel Pina Babbit, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and murderer; and Adolf Eichman, a Nazi war criminal.
Wilson's interest in this subject was sparked by a news story that appeared soon after the execution of Timothy McVeigh that detailed the last meal he ate before receiving the lethal injection that ended his life. McVeigh had changed his request several times before settling on two pints of mint chocolate-chip ice cream. A related story that has resonance for Wilson concerned a nun who opposed McVeigh's execution, despite being a survivor of the Oklahoma bombing. These two news items encompass some of the key themse that the artist decided to explore in this installation, including the issues of forgiveness, revenge, irony, social ritual, and institutionalized brutality.
Although Wilson seeks out specific information on each of her subjects, she filters this research through an ingrained aesthetic that is informed by Conceptual and post-Pop art practices. For instance, she employs a variety of media to portray the readily-identifiable still-life objects that both symbolize her subjects' last meals and reference aspects of their criminal situation. For Wilson, the careful choice of materials furthers the potential for meaning in her work. Among the media she uses are cast iron, bronze, and plastic, melting ice cream, a facsimile of cut glass, digital prints, and small somber paintings. Technique, too, plays a conceptual role: The casting processes that Wilson employs for the majority of the work allude to notions of presence and absence, volume and void, and the very human metaphors of body and nobody. Other formal strategies include massing and repetition, the use of text, and a conscious manipulation of gallery-display practices.
...
"The Last Supper, as I understand it," she explains, "was about sacrifice or forgiveness; it preceded a kind of martyrdom." Although the practice of allowing the condemned a final meal derives from uncertain origins, most indications point to secular custom rather than biblical influence. Hences, the last meal offered to the condemned becomes, in the artists's words, "a strange equation," a macabre irony that provides cruel comfort.
...
Rather than support a particular side of this contentious debate, Wilson intends her work to encourage discourse arounf the issues she set out to explore. Although she hopes to engage the viewer intellectually, Wilson also seeks to provide an encompassing sensate experience, one that can be felt as well as read."
Thomas Piché Jr.
Senior Curator
Everson Museum of Art
Syracuse NY 2003
"Insisting we see humanity of even the lowest criminals among us, she reminds us of our complicity in their de-humanization via the culturally-sanctioned myths about 'us' versus 'them.'"
-Jane Harris, Writer and Independent Curator, New York City 2008
