Last night I was browsing in a bookstore and looked at a book called “Front Pockets.” Here’s the blurb from amazon.com:
Front Pockets catalogues the exhibition of Providence based sculptor Jonathan Bonner that was held at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design from November 9, 2001-January 27, 2002. The catalogue/artist’s book contains 20 pages of duotone images of objects, sculpted by Bonner, to be carried in the front pockets of trousers.
That’s an accurate blurb. On the page to the left, there’s a close up of the pair of objects Bonner has sculpted. Lead balls. Glass balls. Water balloons. Spherical objects that are burrs that have to be inserted with a special tube.
Then on the right side are photos of a model, photographed only from about knee to chest, with the object in his trousers pockets.
That’s it.
I found a used copy on amazon.com for $1.50 and snapped it up. Now when my friends pick up the book at my house and admire it, I’ll be able to say, “Hey, listen,” and then I’ll lower my voice to a conspiratory whisper, “I got this for a buck fifty.”
I have a friend who has been carrying a cow magnet in his pocket for years, keeping all his change from falling out of his pocket.
So forget “what is in your wallet” and let’s ask “what is in your pockets”, ladies on the board can itemize the contents of their purses or just give the carrying weight of the purse.
As an art major for a very brief segment of my college career, I saw far stranger things.
At the moment, I have in my front pocket a small pewter trinket with a relief image of the Hindu form of Buddha on it. Daughter #2 picked up objects of this sort to give family members for Christmas. The other objects were an acorn, a fish, and a heart.
I have often found carrying an object of some sort in my pocket to be strangely comforting. Just before I went into labor with baby #4, my husband found an small agate pig which had been lost somewhere in his 30 year old sock backlog (I’d never seen it before.) It went to the hospital with me, in my pocket.
I can’t say exactly why the objects in “Front Pockets” are appealing to me–but they are. I guess the artist, like me, just fancies these small, grippable objects.
If my (or a) pocket knife is not in there, then the exhibit’s a dud. And for the last 20 years ago, I carry one of those self-folding leather round thingies to keep yer change from jinglin.’ Better be one of those too, or haruumph.
