Floating Gushing Fruit

This sculpture belongs to some anonymous art student at Macalester College. I did look for the name of the artist, but s/he must have been in the process of setting up the exhibition of which this piece was part. Thus, when i passed by, the customary little sign with all the customary info was missing, and i thought it awkward to go in and ask.

We see some kind of dessicated seed pod that has popped, releasing a thick and very orange goo that serves as the spindly stand on which this strange fruit rests. The splatter of goo on the floor is cartoonish and realistic at the same time.

I love the playfulness of this piece. It makes me think of all kind of reversions. We are used to fruits hanging from trees, but this might be a freeze-frame of an entirely different process: perhaps the pod was on the ground, it split, and it released the pressurized jet of juice that has launched it into the air.

Or perhaps what looks like juice is stalks, and the pod is the strange looking bud of an exotic plant.

It makes me want to lick it, to kneel down and stick my tongue in to taste it.