Object of the Week
November 20, 2014
Object of the Week
By: Hayden DeBruler ‘17
Courtland Blade
The Post Office / 2008
Oil on canvas
DePauw University Permanent Art Collection
“Depictions of low-ceilings, long hallways and dead ends characterize the lack of hope
and abundant nature of capitalism,” artist Courtland Blade says; his work The Post
Office, a fluorescent pang, places the viewer in line, the scent of snuffed cigarettes and
envelope sealant blown through the air vents and reverberating off the marble walls. Of
the three figures in the painting, two are facing away from the viewer, the teller,
bleached, becomes part of the scenery. This could just as easily be a statehouse, the
DMV, the bank down the street—identifiable only by the white swish on the sign and the
title of the piece, Blade proves his point—when we are engaged in waiting, we are
anywhere. Foucault once said, “do not ask me who I am, do not expect me to remain the
same. Leave it to the bureaucrats to see that our papers are in order, at least spare us their
morality.” The people in line will not turn around, and if they did it could only lead to a
greater awareness that we are human, that these spaces, “areas of transience,” as Blade
says, “that are not significant enough to be regarded as place,” are not sustainable. They
leave us dejected from social interaction, function on the acceptance of liminal space,
with the ruse our letters will reach the addresses we intend.
Hayden DeBruler is from Greenville, South Carolina. DePauw Class of 2017, Creative Writing and Art History Major. She is a volunteer with the Peeler Art Center Galleries.