Limulus(t)

This is an Oika interpretation by Rich Blundell of Limulus(t), a small porcelain sculpture by Jamie Levine.

"Limulus polyphemus is the genus and species of the horseshoe crab. Limulus(t) is a playful take on procreation that invites us to reconsider the difference between anthropocentrism from anthropomorphism. Anthropocentrism is the human perspective that keeps the rest of the world out by seeing us alone at the center of it all. Anthropomorphism, on the other hand, is about seeing our humanity in the world.

Caught in the act, the artist betrays the boundary between what Arthropods do in the mud, and what we do in the bed. Her anthropomorphizing, or is it arthropomorphizing, breaks the spell of centrality.

I must confess, I’m guilty of the scientific sin of anthropomorphizing. But allowing myself to see myself in the world has made all the difference. Such two-way transgressions restore a broken channel of communion. When we see ourselves in the creature, we let the creature in. Forfeiting false otherness lets us rejoin a forgotten family.

This scandalous sculpture also compels me to apologize. I’m sorry for the countless horseshoe crabs I cut in half for conch bait, spilling their slate colored eggs, and curative blue blood across my bandsaw table.

Now I want to express my gratitude to all of the horseshoe crabs I have known in my life. Especially you that tolerated my curious and rude investigations of your alien underbellies. I promise to stop and admire any of you I find on my way to and from the surf. It’s a meager gesture, I know, for all the disinfection and fascination you’ve provided.

But mostly, thank you Limuli, for your graceful appearance in my troubled mind. When I lie awake, full of that most cruel and potent dread, the kind that only comes at night, I think about you gliding across the shelf of the continent, with your little man in tow. It brings comfort to this little man, knowing you're down there, in the benthos, bumping the piles of lost fishing gear, and schooning through the dark, to get to a beach, and make love in the mud, for the half a billion years before we ever did.

And thank you Jamie Levine for this blatant act of anthropomorphizing, and the opportunity to make amends with ancient friends."
-Dr. Rich Blundell
www.oika.com