After giving it a lot of thought, I resolved to post about
candle making. Like many crafts, it has a rich history, dating back to the qin
Dynasty (221-206 BC) when the Chinese created the first candles from whale fat.
Since the dawn of its existence, the candle has been a craft item heavily tied
to ritual, from religious purposes to time keeping. It even became a guild
craft in the 13th century, indicating at least a distant
relationship to fine art.
The production of candles eventually moved from “chandlers”
(professional candle makers) to machines in the early 1800’s, which, for a
small period of time, dominated the market of lighting options. The invention
of kerosene and lamps, followed shortly by the invention of the light bulb,
quickly snuffed that out, however. At this point, the desire for candles became
mostly decorative, leaving it in a strange grey area between craft and art.
While candles were made for a time to serve essential
purposes such as time keeping, light giving and religious ceremony, they lack
the portion of artistic design that is the artist’s hand. Lacking
representation by artists who have a visible style of work that individualizes
them, candle making then falls for me in the category of craft, in that a set
of designed requirements are reached, but not art.
This is not to say that wax candle artists do not exist.
Artists such as Urs Fischer, Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz all use wax candles
sculpturally to a truly exquisite effect. They are, however, adapting the craft
of candle making into their own form of art making, therefore taking the candle
out of its intended craft and injecting it into a set of relationships and
ideas that comprise the craft of the artist.
Candle making will always, inevitably hold these ties, which
leaves me with a burning desire to incorporate it into my own art making to break down the barrier of craft and art (something I love to do).
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