Folk Death

The descriptions of Dario Robleto's reliquaries at D'Amelio Terras gallery are more fascinating than the works themselves. Here are the supposed source materials in the hourglass above:

...sand and oil samples taken by American soldiers from various wars when landing on foreign lands, excavated bullets and shrapnel from various wars, bacteria cultured from battlefield dirt, bone dust from every bone in the body...

The show's title, "Fear and Tenderness in Men," sounds like the Iron John era, but these works harken back to a long lost era of keepsakes, memorial altars, and trench art (soldiers who create art in their spare time). There's a whacked-out folk art approach to these shrines. For instance, the below image is an Easter basket containing "men's wedding finger bones coated in melted bullet lead from various American wars." (Image via D'Amelio Terras gallery)