blank slate: joseph mele

October 29 – November 28, 2015

This room was like a blank slate. It was like starting over and it was really very calming after a year of a lot of anxiety and a lot of new things and changes that sometimes felt like I was really falling apart but I wasn’t and I didn’t really know that.

Another thing going on is that this tower of boxes is like a host of clamoring mouths, all packed in and contained but they are open, there are openings here.

While working on the box tower I found myself really looking into these mouths and noticing how I felt when I looked in. Were they dark inside? Were they empty?  Did I feel the need to fill in the blank space?

The two faces on the wall are the observers. I think we all have that part that can observe how we are.

I’ve been somehow clearing, gaining consciousness, understanding the many different conflicts and unresolved feelings and transferences and psychological issues I live with.  My structure has fallen apart over and over again and I’m thinking too that the idea of the building of the boxes and the building of the blocks are like building an interior structure.

These structures may even fall apart but now I know I have the tools to rebuild.

– joseph mele

Joseph Mele: blank slate in the Inner Room
Joseph Mele, blank slate: the boxes
Joseph Mele installation "blank slate"
Joseph Mele, the builder, mixed media and emboss on industrial metal foil, approx 7 x 7"