COLLECTIONS: ELLIOTT, HENRY, & HARRIS EARLS

Rupert Sheldrake, the Cambridge trained philosopher and scientist, proposed the controversial concept of morphic resonance. Sheldrake posits that “memory is inherent in nature” and that natural systems “inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind.” Sheldrake proposes that it is through morphic resonance that organisms share “telepathy-type interconnections.” A telepathic connection is possibly the most accurate way to explain the sensation of working in the studio alongside Henry and Harris Earls. 

Family Matters is a (partial) Earls family collaboration. We the Earls are; Darlene, Elliott, Henry, Scarlett and Harris. Darlene is a metalsmith, writer and educator. Elliott is a graphic designer, educator and artist. Henry is 20, studies at The Cooper Union, lives in the Bowery in New York City and is a designer and painter. Scarlett is 18, is an actress living in the East Village in New York and studies drama at NYU. Harris is 15, studies at Cranbrook Kingswood and has been focused on oil painting and design.

Our “family matters” have always been creative practice. Darlene and I met in art school and have spent the last 35 years in the studio relentlessly making work. In the field of art there has always been the myth of the artist returning to nature — retiring to the woods in order to be able to think and to focus – to work uninterrupted. In 2009, when Henry, Scarlett and Harris were still very young, we bought a cottage on a lake in Northern Michigan. We saw this as an opportunity to, at least in part, live the bohemian artist myth of a secluded natural life removed from the distractions of the world. We saw this as an opportunity to live in a cabin studio where we could temporarily opt out of our hyper-connected and better focus on family and work. Since 2009 our time together as a family – largely detached from social networks and screens – lies at the center of the Family Matters show and our collaboration. For the past 12 years we’ve spent June, July and August as a family, sailing, swimming, wake boarding, running and gardening. During these summer days when not engaged outside, everyone in the family has been working on something. Typically Harris would be in the guest house garage or in the yard painting, while Henry would be in the living room working with gouache. Darlene is usually writing and reading, while Scarlett would be writing a screenplay or reading. With open, unscheduled time, activities other than video games, YouTube and Instagram have been the focus. This Family Matters show is a supernatural collaboration. It has been both “supernatural” as well as “super natural.” Collaborating with Henry and Harris has been both “very easy” as well as “a manifestation or event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.” I believe our collaboration has been marked by Sheldrake’s morphic resonance. This is maybe the key idea of this show. For the past 12 years at Shadowbrook and for the past 6 months while working on this show, - when making work, our communication has been very simple. We haven’t spent a lot of time or effort talking about the work. We need not. Our communication has been marked by the ability to anticipate the move of the other. From the beginning of my artistic collaborations with Henry, Scarlett, Harris, and Darlene we’ve worked as collaborators and as peers. When working together we speak very little. A typical conversation in our collaboration is very direct. Our conversations about the work usually last about 30 seconds. We’ve made so much work in each others presence that we can anticipate each others next move. Creatively we share an almost a telepathic connection. Harris will be in my studio while I’m making work and say “more red” or “that’s not as good as the last one.” My artistic interaction with them, which has comprised a major component of the time we’ve spent together has almost exclusively been direct and simple. We’ve made work side by side. In this show for the first time, we’ve actually been working on the same pieces. The show is comprised of a combination of solo works (work made individually) and pieces made together. There’s been no talk of subject matter, themes or theory. We already know what themes each of us bring to the work. 
 


Family Matters is a result of this process.