April, 2002. Heaven Gallery. Chicago (USA)

" Upon entering the universe (deMerle) weaves you may not ever wish to leave."
- Retinaburn

Subterranean Sky is a spacial environment that defies everyday perceptions of mass, form and time. An incredibly strong yet lightweight plastic, originally developed by deMerle using materials from NASA, is the medium used to create delicate fabrics of a proposed alternate reality.

The first to propose putting art into space*, deMerle sculpts light out of darkness with this webbing to create environments which seem to defy gravity. In fact, a recent deMerle piece which was so large as to fill an aircraft hangar weighed only 1 lb total, suspended. deMerle is best known as a political activist who fights for civil liberties, and for many decades he was considered an Outsider artist. But his art is a natural extension of his politics, which celebrates the necessity of personal expression for self-actualization.

Gibbons' original audio score is incorporated directly into the piece, directed through speakers that are integrated into deMerle's ethereal sculpture.

Although this is their first collaboration, deMerle and Gibbons have been close friends since the mid-80's, and in many ways Gibbons' work with audio is the sonic equivalent of deMerle's webbed designs; both of which often suggest more than they reveal.

* Although the NEA was very excited to back this project in 1977, they were ultimately unable to do so as there was no category for this kind of proposal.

Subterranean Sky (excerpt) 3.4MG | 3:44 sounds for an environment by george deMerle © 2002