...now lie in it, is commonly used as a response to people who have been complaining about problems they have brought on themselves. However, ...now lie in it reflects my desire for you to take the title literally and invites you to lie down and experience the effects of thousands who had lain down before you.

In ...now lie in it, I have used salvaged mattresses that came from an undisclosed location, suffice it to say that every night they were most likely inhabited by a different individual(s) (perhaps you?) and consequently carry an enormous amount of personal history as evidenced by the stains, graffiti and degradation in quality. The confines of the gallery space reflect the confines of the earth and how through overpopulation our presence creeps ever closer to these boundaries. The uniformity and repetition of the mattresses reflects our growing dependence on globalization to feed our ever-increasing desire for newer, and therefore perceived as improved, products.

My work has always utilized elements of salvage, refuse and/or abandoned materials. In work that is more recent, the usage of salvaged materials has escalated. I attribute this as my response to the growing amount of waste the world is producing and our inability to deal with the logistics of this waste.

Skip Van Cel, July 2007