Installation, 3ft x 4ft x 20ft

Binded book containing 19 sacred texts from 14 different religions, 22 kt gold leafed night table, and Darwin’s Origin of Species keeping the table level.

 

With hopes to diminish their divisions and hierarchies, 19 different sacred texts are bound in chronological order emulating the history of mans’ relationship to religion. To the artist, all religions hold the same message and each have similar core values, no matter what God (or Gods) you believe in. The night table drawer is small and closed, and it is obvious that this holy book can not be shoved away, hidden in a drawer, like in most hotels. Cleverly what keeps the table level is a copy of Darwin’s Origin of Species.

 

Flowing to and from the book are more pages, as if the “words of Gods” are descending to man, or the “words of men” are ascending to God. Since this exhibition was only 2 blocks away from Ground Zero, the pages that fall from the ceiling and down into the book echo the events that took place as the Twin Towers collapsed. Unfortunately, we still live in a world filled with religious conflict and turmoil, even though each religion preaches peace. Just down the street from this installation space is the New York Stock Exchange, which inspired the title, In Gods We Trust, referring to the debate of whether the phrase should be removed from our currency.