CORONA WREATH PROJECT

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Backgrounder

The dawn of 2020 revealed just cause for hysteria. The Coronavirus permeated the global society, wreaking havoc on communities. Unseen, unknown, pernicious, and seemingly indiscriminate, the disease scythed through families, work units, and institutions. People died isolated and alone. Loved ones were without rights of access. Last rights were issued through layers of glass and latex.

We were sobered, and in the sobering we looked for rationale and purpose. For reasons only he knows, Beck Thornton had already gone into exile during the waning weeks of 2019. Financial, legal, social peril? It was never clear, but he was encountered by an Askance colleague harvesting vines in the Central Florida woodland.

By his reckoning, the compulsion to tear down the vines and fashion them into wreaths was tied to the pandemic and his own redemption. Vines, like viruses, are invasive, each opportuning their own viability. Clinging to and feeding from hosts, they both leverage existence, stringing from one body to the next. In Beck’s mind, he was reclaiming life for the dead and dying.

The wreaths he created were to be sold to commemorate the fallen and to generate funding for the afflicted. With society in shutdown, resources like food banks were stretched beyond capacity – and in many cases, inaccessible. For whatever his sins, Beck sought redemption through giving.

Then as mysteriously as he appeared, Beck vanished. Perhaps his past caught up with him, but one day he was working on his 49th wreath, and the next he was gone.

The wreaths are in storage anticipating his re-emergence. The photographic record is soon to be released as NFTs to fund his activities upon his return. We hold out hope. Let us know if you encounter him in your travels. Subscribe for updates.

About the Artist

Beck Thornton is a vine twiner, installation artist, and photographer. His background is obscure, possibly murky. Almost certainly self-taught, his impressive work is meticulous, generative and virile, deeply couched in a spiritual richness evident to those who witness it. Individual pieces range from delicate to fierce, depending on the moment and the materials.

He is missed during this absence, and we hold out hope for his re-emergence.

Beck’s whereabouts is currently a mystery. Messages for him gratefully received and held by Askance at: curator@askance.studio