Twisty Things

Salient Feature #6: Twisty things. When these accumulations of twisted wire appear, they last longer than the other media the Primitive uses, although they soon migrate into the garbage from whence they came. Tom Zummer pointed out to me that the work of the Woonasquatucket Primitive has affinities with that of the Philadelphia Wireman, and these wires are perhaps the Primitive's homage to this classic anonymous urban folk artist. But the Wireman's wires are more easily appreciated outside of their original context; as web sites show, they can be easily, and depressingly, placed beneath the vitrine. As I have been emphasizing about the work of the Primitive, however, these are not as much art objects, but interventions and addresses: a way to connect to the environment and a call out to others. It's a clasp and a patois. A twist and a shout.

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