SLURRY- Dani Leventhal
March 31- April 21 2007

“Slurry” is a space of trees, guns, chairs, plastic animals, floor plans, cords, clay islands, feathers, raw wool.
Cameos reoccurring; They are ovals drawn around. Protecting the beloved. A birth canal. A beached father who is without his head. An anonymous soldier. And Grandpa Abraham who changed his name to Jack. You can find legs bent in prayer and clouds for dreaming. Bombed out yellows and greens. The 23rd psalm to remind us of God. Placenta in a push cart. Slurry in a hospital pan.

“Slurry” is marking the territory. “Slurry” is drawing suggestions from animals because we might find in them, through them, a connection to ourselves in a larger sense of being. Being like people, like grandmothers, like mothers and fathers, and sisters and being like children. Some people are born into positions of hate. Translucent child skin, child who understands so much but how could he? Fears of mothering and the regrets of causing harm. The desire to love and the desire to fuck and the willingness to be left alone. Searching. Or let us call it here for a moment the drive to live, and to escape the caves of ignorance.

We try to unlearn that is what this is. We try to feed the hunger to be taught how. And it is the potential of celebrating beauty and fragility. That's all it is, really.

A superstitious sister, a voluptuous camel, an autistic boy, a fallen bird, an exhausted German woman who needs to stay awake. We get dealt certain cards and that is the luck. One can choose to turn one’s back and be riddled with fear. Eyes wide shut. But I don’t want to. Take a risk an a glimpse and thunder. We have nothing to loose.

This is not pretty, but its 2007 and we are at war.

9 minutes of Kaunaus
Video, 2007

The conversation with Domas Darguzs (age 7)
is inside this synagogue in Kaunaus, Lithuania.

The scapegoats live in New Paltz, New York.

SLURRY Is dedicated to Woody Woodruff

Giant Gratitude:

To Faith Adams for taping

To David Basch for coaching

To Brett Bauman for welding

To Steven Bradford for keen seeing

To Chris Brandon for listening

To Bob Bielecki for sounds

To Sarah Burt for identifying with the drawings

To Ty Chennault for providing the space

To Edward Curtz for nighttime whale cutting

To Mike Dalton for willingness

To Susan Dorsey for sharing her birth stories

To Domas Darguzs for his speech

To Jenna Effren for her pile of crate wood

To my Family for their love

To Gregory Farley for songs and friendship

To Danielle Gallagher for enthusiasm

To Lawrence Geneovese for ramp work

To Pam Gerson for fishnets and heels in the snow

To Andrea Geyer for tender and thorough thinking

To Andrew Hunter for his love of pine

To Jorge Jaramillo for freezing trio-dancing

To Natalie & David Jones for sharing their birth
stories

To Fran & Owen Jones for sharing their goats

To Ann Kalmbach for being her

To Laura Kellar for nourishing and encouraging

To Tana Kellner for backing

To Connie Kieltyka for Stephan and Hudson and for
believing

To Matoka Little Eagle for dancing in the snow

To Jim Malone for consistent guidance

To Micah Moore for sharing her birth stories

To Doug Muller for sweet-tempered wisdom

To Kristin Natoli for changing

To Judy Sigunick for recognizing and sharing Nitza

To Kevin Seekamp for all the edges

To the New Paltz students for teaching me

To Pete Marintsch for the “pay it forward” approach

To Cameron Wheadon for hauling and cutting

To Anita Wetzel for continuous curiosity

To Bill Wilson’s friends for compassion

To Woody Woodruff for his nighttime engineering
triganomic brainstorms and for tirelessly building
this platform.

-Dani Leventhal, 2007

www.danileventhal.com