`Facts are Slippery' builds on art, science

---

by Shawn Jackson

---

The exhibit consists mainly of a giant array of chemical glassware interconnected so as to invoke the appearance of 16th- or 17th- century alchemical glassware. Along the walls and surrounding this central piece are various smaller secondary works designed to complement the central display. Some of the glassware came from the Rice University glassblower.

Part of the exhibit is that it is altered each time it is displayed. When asked why the exhibit changes with each gallery, Larameé said, "Being open-ended contributes to the ongoing flow of ideas. With one message, you're giving them [the audience] a package deal. I've never made my work give one particular message."

She has received a variety of messages from the people who viewed her work. Art and Art History graduate student Bridget Cecchimi attended because "when [I] watched her put it together, [I was not] sure where she was going." However, the end result was different and interesting, she said.

Baker College freshman Jeff Koffler said Facts Are Slippery was "random" and that "putting it together differently each time doesn't have the same connotations." However, he did like the fact that she "let other people into her creativity."

Larameé has been interested in the correlations between science and art for 15 years. Her work attempts to show that while science may appear to be clear-cut, its boundaries are often as blurred as those in art. "I not only wish to critique science but also draw attention to the aesthetics, poetry and metaphor in science: to re-evaluate wonder," Larameé has said of her art.

The theorist Evelyn Fox Keller, whose writings have greatly influenced Larameé, presented the first lecture in the 1996 President's Lecture Series. Keller was one reason painter Lynn Randolph attended the opening of Larameé's exhibit. "I was interested in the interaction between her work and Evelyn Fox Keller's ideas," she said. Randolph also liked the fact that Larameé's art connected across disciplines.

President Malcolm Gillis said of the glassware, "You don't have to go to Venice to see really great glasswork. Just come to Sewall Hall."

This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the December 6, 1996 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.