Dennis Hollingsworth

AIRCAT 2019: The Littoral Spawn

It is of no surprise to anyone that artist participants in AIRCAT arrive preset with methods and materials that they have already been well acquainted. In Avital Yomdin's case, she has long been fascinated with the substantial qualities and possibilities of thermoplastic glue, and more generally in the material properties of all plastics in general. Early on, the question arose as we grooved into studio discussions, what would happen if gravity could be suspended even if for a little bit by extruding hot glue into water? A bucket (and later, a paella pan) is kind of like a laboratory simulation of a littoral, a mediated environment between atmosphere and liquid. The material kept its extruded qualities as it cooled in immediate immersion, and it also fused with itself at random points, eventually forming a matted connective tissue, connecting nothing in particular and everything in general. The result resembled littoral spawn, a petrochemical synthetic homunculus, an expression both literal and figurative of the mix and frenzy of reproduction, the flip side of Darwin that nobody seems to talk about: less than the survival of the fittest and more of the proliferation of the sexiest.

As soon as Avital made the first spawn mat, he placed it on his face, looping the strands behind his ears like a mask.
We began snapping photos immediately and over time, involving many others in modeling the spawn. Below the fold, behold the frenzy...