Coal and Diamonds 1985

Editor: Tim Mara's "Coal and Diamonds" presents a bucket suspended above a crystal bowl. The stark contrast immediately makes me think about value, and perhaps about labor, but what do you see in this piece? Curator: The artist uses mundane and luxury objects in stark juxtaposition. Consider the industrial process of making the metal bucket versus the skilled artistry required to create the glass bowl. Where do you think its meaning resides? Editor: So you are highlighting the distinction in production and skill. I hadn't thought about it that way, but I see how Mara challenges our preconceptions of value through materiality. Curator: Precisely. It prompts us to question how we assign value to objects based on their creation. Editor: This has been really enlightening, seeing how the means of production inform the work's meaning.