This Is Not A Pipe Organ, 1984
This Is Not A Pipe Organ, was created years before David Beck became an accomplished saxophonist and yet a sophisticated sense of instrumentation supports this elaborate piece. While This Is Not A Pipe Organ manifests as a pipe organ, it’s actually a portal. This Is Not A Pipe Organ is an elaborate playscape prompted by a tuxedoed conductor enticing one to engage with it irrespective of musical prowess. It enlists a host of carved creatures to deliver various exotic sounds through a kind of sculptural collage including bells and a steady beat from the line of flat fish bellows to fill out the audio and visual palette. This Is Not A Pipe Organ holds the viewer in a more intimate, interactive experience than perhaps any other Beck work. It allows one to merge with the piece as viewer, explorer, composer, and ultimately as maker. It points to the mind game set forth in Magritte’s iconic contemplation on semiotics,This is not a pipe; but pushes past the inadequacies of language, opening a door to a more primal form of communication.
mixed media construction