BEAR AND
BULL
© Owen Premore
Bear and Bull, 2012
13 x 9.5 x 11.5”
Basswood, found cast iron lamp base, mahogany, MDF
The bull and bear markets (stock market trends) relationship is explored in this piece. The bear, perched on a unicycle-like interface and carrying heavyweights, is the driving force for the bull. The bear allows the bull to subsist, but in doing so, the bear becomes strained under the weight of responsibility and the exertion of the action.
I am interested in materials and their traditions as a means to concept. The bear was hand-carved from basswood, a reference to the craftsperson (the necessity of a "blood in the streets" bear market). The bull is a mass-produced consumer item (the capitalist necessity of prolonging a bull market). As more of our retirement plans, savings accounts, and other "investments" become dependent on the stock market and its trends, we (the 99%) are enslaved to supporting and powering the corrupt stock market.
