Exhibit #8: The Peach Pit Rodeo Half-Time Show (Temporarily Out of Order)

Abstract

161 Due to unforeseen circumstances, this exhibit is temporarily out of order. The Gallery regrets this inconvenience and assures visitors that you will be informed as soon as the situation improves. The exhibit, while clearly exceptional, is simply not here. It should be over there, against the wall, but it is temporarily certainly not here in working order. The Gallery hopes there will be a small rectangular white card revealing the title, artist, and medium of the work, perhaps some kind of narrative. However, this exhibit, while impressive, is temporarily out of order due to unforeseen circumstances involving weather and insects, and we cannot make any guarantees. The narrative is missing. It shouldn’t be here at all. Perhaps over there, but that would change the exhibit, don’t you think? It should have been first—or last, as a kind of coda for the show. It could’ve been lit from below, casting smoky shadows , as if everything were tight and white and beautiful. The Gallery Exhibit #8: The Peach Pit Rodeo Half-Time Show (Temporarily Out of Order) Steven Church 162 Ecotone: reimagining place is proud to house this exhibit and regrets the unforeseen spiders that have temporarily rendered this exhibit out of order. Some may say chaotic or confusing. Some may say, Can we go home? That’s not to mention the rain. The Gallery assures you that this is not our intention. If things had gone as the artist planned, this exhibit would be in perfect working order and not temporarily compromised due to unforeseen hair and wind and the way a red scarf catches and blows out behind like the flaming burst of a rocket ship. It really should be there, in the corner, or maybe scandalously close to the giant moth. People would whisper. But this exhibit is temporarily, or temporally, out of order. Things don’t line up. The timing is all off. If you listen closely you can hear the missing beats. The cuffs don’t match the collars. There is no narrative reaching back into history, connecting this piece with the order of influence. The shit does not hit the fan, but instead gets hung up on the plastic safety screen. The artist has not finished. Due to unforeseen intrusions, possibly involving shiny objects or the scent of lemon rind, this exhibit is temporarily out of line, completely inappropriate. We think it might have been the bent butcher knife. The Gallery cannot agree. The Gallery does not approve of such images, insofar as we do not endorse the use of coarse language and scatological humor. We also do not endorse nor expressly forbid knives. However, the Gallery is proud to house the work of this fine artist and regrets that this exhibit, while impressive, is temporarily out of order and is not predicted to be in order anytime soon. The observant visitor will notice, however, the complete, if not temporary, absence of visible spiders. This is something we’re proud of here at the Gallery. We assure you—and this means something because we own the building—that if this exhibit were not temporarily out of order, you would see, etched into a peach pit, intricately carved images of a cowboy monkey riding a sheepdog and you would be moved and touched deeply by this artist’s work. You might even offer to purchase the piece. You wouldn’t think about how the artist managed to re-create the little rhinestone-studded vest and the red cowboy hat the monkey was wearing. You’d forget how he captured perfectly the look of horror on the monkey’s face, his furry legs strapped to a tiny saddle, as the dog frantically herded four tired sheep into a pen, and you would leave here tonight talking about that one exhibit, the one that should have been over there, scandalously close to the moth, and how it made you tingle inside. ...