PLEDGE 2 | FIN SIMONETTI

Pledge 2 is part of the Pledge project (2019), a group of sculptures created by Fin Simonetti (Vancouver, 1985) after the death of her father. What they have in common is the material used to craft them, alabaster, while their subjects range from various objects in shape, material, or purpose, to representations of human or animal anatomical parts: from a lit candle to a fishing hook, from the severed legs of a dog to a male member. Pledge unfolds as a process of self-analysis and mourning: the pain and suffering from the loss of a significant figure in life like a father are experienced, acted upon, manipulated, and recomposed into forms and details containing both the dimensions of memory and the symbolic aspects of the relationship.

Pledge 2 takes the form of a small fire extinguisher: entirely crafted from alabaster, its shades of white and Spanish blue give it an elegant and decidedly unconventional appearance for the typical characteristics of this object.
The extinguisher is then displayed resting on a dark iron handrail, which not only traces a linearity in the exhibition path of the various sculptures belonging to the project but also serves as a material connection, marking both metaphorically and physically the line of thought proposed by Simonetti in this setup.

The extinguisher is universally recognized as a life-saving object, as a solution to a problem, to a sometimes quite serious critical situation, such as a fire. In deliberate opposition to this perception, Simonetti decides to arrange this small sculpture in an unstable and precarious manner, creating a striking contrast of meaning. Playing on the border between a sense of security and danger alerts the senses, leaving the viewer perplexed but, at the same time, fascinated.

During the process of metabolizing that gives rise to this project, Simonetti takes the opportunity to further reflect, on a broader scale, on masculinity and impotence. In the context of eroticism, the extinguisher symbolically ‘puts out’ the fire of passion, a flame that simultaneously lives on the lit and well-erected candle positioned a few meters away. A contrast that also becomes a metaphor for the great contradiction of our existence: appearance versus identity, constantly in precarious balance with each other.

Fin Simonetti
Pledge 2, 2019
Spanish blue alabaster, white alabaster, burnt fuse, 20,32 x 22,86 x 38,1 cm (8″ x 9″ x 15″)
Courtesy of the artist and Company Gallery

Fin Simonetti, Pledge, 2019.
Installation view at Company Gallery, New York, March 3 – April 21, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Company Gallery.

08/05/24