YET ANOTHER HEIR
Ceremonial Bowl, Huon Pine, Mahogany, Aluminium
In this small, tabletop ceremonial bowl, a winged creature has landed on whatever surface presents its self. It exudes the tension of temporary presence, suggesting it can take off at any minute.
Yet Another Heir sits within a Ceremonial Bowl category in Lueckenhausens work. This category works within the narrative of containing, of being an agent for presentation and making a votive offering. Larger manifestations of this category have found their way into similar installations, both domestic and commercial as the formal welcoming icon on an office reception area or in the entrance hallway of a home. Yet Another Heir can be placed anywhere and at its most prosaic this work could contain fruit, eggs or some collection of decorative objects. At its most poetic it manifests as a domestic reliquary.
The narrative is that of the (albeit) domestic object with long-term provenance rather than of the ephemeral, as with most contemporary domestic objects with a use by date. Lueckenhausen has extended this to include the image of re-birth or re-validation, represented in this case by the mythological phoenix. Hence the title, taken from Shakespeare:
Nor shall this peace sleep with her: but as when
the bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes new create another heir,
As great in admiration as herself;
(W. Shakespeare, King Henry VIII, Act V, Scene V)
Yet Another Heir works within a narrative of change, reinvention, constant reconfiguration, change of location and most of all, revalidation. Thus - Another Heir, Yet Another Heir, etc.
