Adam Frelin

Floor Fountain

pump, plastic, metal, wood, water
roughly 8' long
2002

A stream of water silently flowed out of a small hole. It gradually moved across the floor in relation to its contours, disappearing into another hole eight feet away from the first. While an artist-in-residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture I created this small stream in my studio that at first glance looked more like a puddle. The mechanism that ran it was suspended below the floor in the basement. Its aesthetic stood in contradiction to the simplicity and subtlety of the stream, yet acted as its necessary companion, simultaneously creating and undermining its illusory qualities.