Elaine Bradford, Labyrinth of Frozen Clouds Diorama, 2009 (detail), Courtesy the artist and Art Palace, Houston
Tomorrow we start installing Elaine Bradford’s work into windows on Milam St downtown as part of Blaffer’s Window into Houston series. Looking forward to seeing how it all comes out! They will be small dioramas of Elaine’s fantastical creatures. One window will feature a pair of bears (Procyon besheret) in their forest habitat. These forest-dwelling mammals display an unusual mating ritual. Individuals spend years wandering the forest in search of a mate with matching coat color and pattern. Once this mate is discovered, the bears together dig a burrow large enough to accommodate both of them. They then nest inside, pulling the soil in to cover their bodies. What takes place inside the burrow is unknown, but the two emerge ten days later with their tails fused. The other window will be an arctic cave filled with Lepus microphagus, or cloud hares. These hares are found throughout the tunnel network of arctic caves, both near the entrances to the caves and also deep within them where there is no light. The rabbit-like creatures are able to exert incredible suctional force with the ends of their extended limbs. Using these modified paws, they attach to rocks, literally vacuuming up microbes that live in tiny air pockets within the strata. The suction cups on their paws are hyper-sensitive, capable of detecting the presence of microscopic life as the hares feel their way through the darkest caves.
