Maya Kramer   //   There is Nothing You Can Measure Anymore

Seemingly floating as a 3-D x-ray, a tiger skull cast from laundry detergent sits in a one-way mirror vitrine as water slowly drips on the skull until it crumbles.  Symbolically and materially, the work alludes to environmental degradation—tigers are powerful animals driven to the brink of extinction by human excesses.   Phosphorus is an everyday pollutant found in laundry detergent, and x-rays identify and diagnose underlying problems. Yet the skull’s disintegration also indicates that entropy and dissolution are immutable processes.

 In addition to the ephemeral work in the vitrine, six photographs document this process. Three horizontal and three vertical shots of the piece show the tiger skull before, in the midst of, and at the end of its disintegration.  The photographs are printed as transparencies and mounted on LED panels.

Maya Kramer’s work functions as a haunting antidote to the often hyperbolic and saccharine version of life portrayed in popular culture. Beginning with a concern for humanity’s precarious relationship to its environment, the artist uses surprising materials to render images from nature–coal and fake diamonds made into a night sky; a tiger skull constructed from laundry detergent; and a jungle crafted from the pages of The New York Times.