ALTERED STATES SCULPTURE EXHIBITION

Nighttime at Altered States 2025 by Steve Wallis

Suppose, at night, while we're all snoring
when fox and badger nose the air
the sculptures stir themselves awake
with a creak or crackle, shimmer or shake
some horsing about without a care
while others go exploring

Unfrozen they can dance around
bopping or jiving off their bases
those with limbs might pirouette
while others roll or somerset
all going through their paces
in a picturesque playground

No posing now, all stiff and mute
they're free to chatter, frolic, canter
gossip, wriggle, shuffle, prate
moonbathe, stargaze, contemplate
exchange a little friendly banter
giggle, chuckle, snicker, hoot

And those with eyes will peek through listed windows
while those with wings will flit from tree to tree
or soar unseen 'tween moon and lawn
until the chorus heralds dawn
restoring all to statuary
so no-one knows...

Altered States 2023 by Steve Wallis

There are stories on the lawn at Shaw
one or more for every dreamer
drifting in this shady plot
lost among the numbered pages
of half a hundred different books
one for everyone who looks and muses
pauses
captivated by a certain style
or stops in sudden half-surprise
at being captured, held in awe
reflected in some brazen form
or otherwise, as Burns had wished
to see himself through other eyes

There are mysteries and thrillers here
threads to tug forensically
a long-forgotten memory
made tangible by someone else's mind

Launchpads of imagination
monographs on graceful frames
fables, fictions, flights of fancy
works of wonder, fairy tales

A metaphor turned turtle swims
in someone's stream of consciousness
past a whole anthology of holes
arranged in a set of hardback volumes

But light and dark must play their part
Shaw's idyllic lawn has claws
into each life some pen must scrawl
the coal-black corvid tragedies
scorpion tales of lightning pain
cold hollow griefs, the out-of-reach
the elephants of our inner rooms
the shark of harsh self-criticism
intransigent dominant silverback views

There are stories at Shaw beneath the trees
and everyone who comes creates
another innovative narrative frieze
in the athenaeum of Altered States

ADVICE FOR ENCOUNTERING THE ART BY STEVE WALLIS

0. Resolve to approach The Art as if you were expected and are, having allowed for traffic, more or less on time.

1. You may step on the grass, but Do Not Feed The Art.

1. Place yourself in the vicinity of The Art. Perhaps a little closer? Closer... That will do.

2. Behold.

3. If at all possible, be held.

5. Utilise all available senses, including your sense of composure, your sense of humour and your sense of our inescapable mortality.

8. Try to maintain balance between your sense of self and your sense of unself in the presence of The Art.

13. You may enhance your sense of unself by adopting a pseudonym such as Art Malik, Art Garfunkel, Artemis Fowl or Arthropods-R-Us, but please avoid Art Of Noise and Articles Of War.

21. Move among The Art in a way that pleases you.

34. Try that again in a way that does not. Ugh. You were right the first time.

55. If there is a breeze, oblige it to pass by you on either side. It must not be prevented from reaching The Art. In the event of rain, do not break glass.

89. Ask questions of The Art. Eg; "Do I come here often?" or "Is this the weight of an armadillo?"

144. Record the answers in a notebook. You may need to imagine the notebook. You may need to imagine the answers.

233. Take a mental photograph by blinking at The Art. Preserve the memory of that blinking masterpiece.

377. Recognise that Art is Everywhere, even in the absurd.
______________________________________________________