The Waypoint is pleased to present The Whale, a two-part installation of Person’s work The Dying Gaul.

The Dying Gaul will be on view at the Waypoint from May 5th – 9th to coincide with the Marfa Film Festival. This installation is free and open to the public.

For the second part of The Whale, The Dying Gaul will be permanently installed 60 miles southwest of Marfa along the Mexican-American border. Part two of The Whale is scheduled to coincide with Chinati’s 2010 open house this October.

The Dying Gaul, vinyl, mixed media, custom electronics, 35′ x 10′ diameter, 2007

About the work
Pulling from the original title of Mellvile’s magnum opus Moby Dick, The Whale will present Person’s sculpture Dying Gaul -a life-size, 40 ft inflatable sculpture of a Sperm Whale- in both the context of a town spectacle, and in the vast ocean that is the Chihuahuan desert.

In Person’s words:
” The deflating white whale symbolizes a cyclical end to obsession. Much like a beached whale, which dies when it’s non-buoyant mass collapses under its own weight, human obsession frequently spirals out of control until its bearer can no longer support its mass. The Dying Gaul is intended to be abandoned in the desert, far from an ocean. Once there, it inflates until full, and then slowly deflates, collapsing inward on itself. Fully deflated, and without witness, the cycle begins anew. The viewer is comforted by the uncertain knowledge, and faith, that the cycle of obsession has once again met its end.”