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Rainey Knudson

1. Helen Altman, Signal

Helen Altman, "Signal," 1992. Commercially produced electric log fires, 108 × 156 1/8 × 12 in.

Before there were 10-hour fireplace videos on TV, there were fake fire logs in chimney-less homes across America. “Why have the mess, hassle—and the danger!—of fire in your home when you can enjoy a warm and realistic glow without ever having to sweep up ashes or gather wood?” Yes! And in Helen Altman’s inert facsimile of a giant bonfire, more is more: more plastic, more electrical cords, and more bits of real logs that don’t burn. It’s a massive, somewhat comic altarpiece, seducing our inner moths and our need to gather around a hearth. Any hearth.


 

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