A Pocket, A Cue, A Shot
A Pocket, A Cue, A Shot is built using the framing method for domestic architecture. Pine 2 x 4’s set at 16” distance are employed in constructing the frame for a pool table whose “felt” is a bare mattress punctuated by pockets lined with sheer stockings. The rawness of the piece, including the exposed industrial materials of the mattress’s interior, disallows for the possibility of settling on a tidy or finished read. Its title, A Pocket, A Cue, A Shot, encourages a reading that is both about the posturing potential of the game of pool and the bravada of calling a shot, as it is about the extended combo shot wordplay of innuendo where cues and shots are all about reaching into otherwise elusive pockets. This is a table without sticks or balls – the tension it creates is not related to any immediate playability, but rather for an anticipated potential. As an object, the bed/table/ model of domesticity conflates the social and sexual imperatives that infuse the atmosphere of the gay bar. It offers a tension that emphasizes the intimate connections forged in both the context of the bar and the bedroom. The public pleasure of playing a game, and the private pleasures indicated by the mattress offer a narrative that is both subtle and charged.
| mattress, 2 x 4s, rubber, stockings 4’ h x 4’ w x 7’ l 2012 |