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Item description
A large illuminated, three dimensional sculpture on a wooden pedestal. The sculpture as a whole resembles a large prescription pill bottle that glows from within; the individual pieces forming that shape are cylindrical orange pill bottles stacked on top of each other for the bottom, and white pill bottle caps forming the tapered top. Contained within the bottles is an organic shape that blocks the light. The wooden pedestal base has four legs with six decorative bars crossing between them.
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Bruce Mackley

This piece is a 3-D sculpture comprised of plastic prescription pill bottles, wood, and LED lighting. As with the majority of older Americans, I've had a number of prescribed medications throughout the years and decided to start saving the bottles a while back. I had no clear notion of what I'd be doing with them, but I enjoy exploring non-traditional mediums with my art.

This piece was a complete departure from my usual aesthetically-driven objective. I've always felt that art can sometimes be over-purposed towards socially opinionated intent, and if I were ever to go that route, it should really resonate with the viewer.

I've been increasingly astounded at the sheer volume of prescription drugs today. Even pre-pandemic, the addiction and death rates in this country associated with prescription drug abuse/overuse were staggering. The pandemic up-ended our reality, and accelerated the use of medicinal coping mechanisms to epidemic proportions; the demand for anti-anxiety meds and antidepressants exploded. We all sought to contain those emerging negative effects without consequence.