Seventy-three in a Moment
Artist
Tasha Ostrander
(American, born 1962)
Date1996
Medium26,645 handcut, photocopied paper butterflies, stained with tea and coffee; gum arabic; masonite
Dimensions120 x 2 1/2 in. (120 in., 6.4 cm)
ClassificationsAssemblage
Credit LineGift of William Siegal, 2012
Object number2012.19
DescriptionA 10-foot diameter circle with concentric circles comprised of layers of 26, 645 interwoven tea- and coffee-stained paper butterflies.eMuseum Notes
73 in a Moment consists of 26,645 photocopies of butterflies, Xeroxed from David Carter’s 1992 field guide Butterflies and Moths, from the Eyewitness Handbook series. Tasha Ostrander used about 20 different butterflies from that book. The number 73 referred to what was the average American life span at the time the artist made the piece. 26,645 is the number of days in 73 years. This work is, in essence, a meditation on life and death, with the artist asking the question, If you knew how long you had to live, how would you live your days? The use of the butterflies is a metaphor for the brevity of life (butterflies have a short life span) and the idea of metamorphosis. Ostrander did all of the work herself, 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, for one year. The labor-intensiveness of the project was an important aspect of creating the meaning of the work. The work takes the form of a mandala, thus contributing to its significance as a meditative work or spiritual endeavor. To have the 26,645 butterflies seen in one glance is to demonstrate the intensity of a lifetime in a single moment.
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