• Dario Robleto

  • 2016

Artist's Website

Grant Summary
Support for a body of work centered around the history of the heartbeat.
Keywords
Artist Statement
From the first time one human placed her or his ear to another’s chest the mysteries of the movements and sounds of the heartbeat and pulse have remained elusive. The history of the ingenious attempts to first record and visually register these actions of the heart initiated a sequence of events that are part of a widely unknown history of the human heartbeat. Through a series of sculptures, installations, writings, rare audio restoration and a book, the project entitled The Pulse Armed With a Pen (An Unknown History of the Human Heartbeat) will reconstruct this forgotten history by identifying key moments in its narrative.  Each narrative is chosen for its profound implications that challenged fundamental associations we tie to the human heart: life, confirmation of death, personal identity, continuity of memory, the physical site of emotion, authenticity, creativity, and spirituality, to name a few.

  • American Seabed 2014, Dario Robleto, Fossilized prehistoric whale ear bones salvaged from the sea (1 to 10 million years), various butterflies, butterfly antennae made from stretched and pulled audiotape recordings of Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row,” concrete, ocean water, pigments, coral, brass, steel, Plexiglas. Courtesy of the artist and Inman Gallery, Houston, TX.

  • Setlists For a Setting Sun (Dark Was the Night) 2014, Dario Robleto, Cyanotypes, prints, watercolor paper, butterflies, butterfly antennae made from stretched audiotape of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night” (Recorded 1927, launched on Voyager I probe in 1977), various cave minerals and crystals, homemade crystals, coral, nickel plated sea urchin shells, sea urchin teeth, various seashells, beetle wings, ocean water, pigments, cut paper, mica flakes, feathers, mirrors, plastic and glass domes, audio recording, digital player, headphones, wood, polyurethane. Courtesy of the artist, collection of Baltimore Museum of Art.