Artwork Details
- Title
- The Weight of Deferred Gratification
- Artist
- Date
- 2019
- Location
- Dimensions
- overall box, closed: 5 7⁄8 × 12 1⁄8 × 9 1⁄8 in. (14.9 × 30.8 × 23.2 cm)
- Copyright
- © 2022, David Harper Clemons
- Credit Line
- Gift of the James Renwick Alliance in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Renwick Gallery and the 40th anniversary of the Alliance
- Mediums Description
- sterling silver, stainless steel, brass, glass, and mahogany with corn, wild rice, and wheat
- Subjects
- Object — other — container
- Object — other — flatware
- Object Number
- 2022.22A-M
Artwork Description
Metalsmith David Harper Clemons stretches the expected use of utensils with The Weight of Deferred Gratification. While imagining a better future, Clemons looked to the past. He created this functional knife, fork, and spoon to critique unsustainable agricultural production and consumerism. The utensils contain corn, wild rice, and grains, as well as soil pods for planting the grains and water flasks for nourishing the sprouts.
“The tools become vehicles to convey the extended relationship between germination, production, cultivation, preparation, consumption, and even sharing and distribution,” the artist explains. To use the utensils, from seed to table, requires a commitment to nurturing the present; Clemons encourages the user to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022
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