Skyler’s mixed-media piece, “I’m climbing out of the old rag and bone shop”, engages with W.B. Yeats’ line, “I must lie down where all the ladders start / In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.”
This artwork blends acrylic paint, three-dimensional objects, and Scrabble tiles to create a layered meditation on personal excavation and transformation. The visual elements and structural choices of the work echo the paradox of renewal through confronting the “foul” detritus of the heart.
The use of actual fabric scraps, painted with visceral reds, immediately evokes the physicality of Yeats’ metaphor. These scraps suggest a tangible accumulation of memories, emotions, or discarded remnants of identity. By embedding them in the “shop,” the artist invites viewers to consider the intimate labor of sorting through these pieces
The blue ladders on either side of the central structure symbolize an aspirational journey, a struggle to transcend the “shop” and its weight. Yeats’ “ladders” originate in a low, foul place, suggesting that the climb is both necessary and transformative. Skyler’s ladders, angular and fragmented, suggest that this journey is not straightforward; they twist and bend, underscoring the tension between ascent and the pull of the past.
The silhouetted figures within the central box appear introspective and detached, their outlines simple but suggestive. This sparseness speaks to the loneliness and vulnerability intrinsic to self-reflection. The boxed-in space recalls both a confessional and a stage, further emphasizing the tension between public and private reckoning.
The Scrabble tiles, spelling out “RAG,” “SHOP,” “OLD,” and “BONE,” inject an element of structured play into the otherwise chaotic scene. These tiles introduce the idea that language itself becomes a tool for understanding and categorizing experience.
The birds in the upper portion, soaring beneath a darkened sun, contrast sharply with the grounded, enclosed shop below. They suggest fleeting freedom or transcendence, juxtaposed with the confinement of the interior world. The eclipsed sun also hints at the duality of hope and despairin this introspective process.
Formally, the composition centers around the red-roofed structure, drawing the viewer’s attention inward, much like the heart itself. The ladders flank the structure, leading the eye upward, while the birds and sun balance the piece vertically, creating a dialogue between the earthly and the celestial.
