Dead Set Mate

This masterful piece of uncommissioned public sculpture tunes my dial for a number of reasons. Anyone who is friends with me on facebook will probably have mused about my profile pic, a reflection of the beige cowboy in a dead TV set snapped one sunny day while walking missy. I used to take photos of abandoned TVs, for no other reason than it sparked my creative curiosity. To see this abandonment of old technology, like so many jilted lovers left to mope and decay on the nature strip, was a moment in history worthy of documenting in all its sad glory. It brought up mixed feelings in me – the nostalgia of seeing clones of the old box from my childhood; the ugly spectacle of the sheer waste and its thoughtless abandonment; the creative itch that spoke of the potential for some meaningful statement that could be made if these abandoned beauties could be harvested and turned into art.

I came across a disemboweled circuit board crucified on a power pole a few months ago and thought, this person is onto something – got to love that sympatico.

Power pole circuit board hack – Cnr St Georges Rd and Miller St Thornbury

Power pole circuit board hack (detail) – Cnr St Georges Rd and Miller St Thornbury

But then I came across the pièce de résistance near the Thornbury Railway Station and had to stop to take off my hat and wipe a metaphorical tear from my eye. This piece is not only bright and provocative, it has subtext in spades. Retouched abandoned monitors stacked as building blocks spell out a term, in the vernacular, that means in total seriousness, and of course the pun that here are a bunch of terminal boob-tubes. When I first saw this piece it had been vandalised and someone had thrown the tube with ‘Dead’ stenciled on it onto the railway tracks. I went back to take these photos a few days later and the artist had set up another monitor to complete the message. Your intrepid correspondent fished the old tube off the rocks and placed it back with its red case for the pic at the bottom.

Uncommissioned sculpture near Thornbury Railway Station. I like the unintentional extra touch of the vomit of wires from the vandalised red 'Dead' set, bottom right.

Here modelled by missy, with red set back in one piece.

As a footnote: I rode past this on my way picking missy up from day care yesterday and I noticed that it’s become a bit of a shrine for other abandoned televisions. Who knows what other great things are in the offing for these abandoned electronic lovers. I shall endeavor to keep you posted.