William B. Cravis FACT-ORY Mixed Media: ceramics, wood, mirror ©SMPA

Cravis’s messages are hard hitting and hard to miss; the fact that they appear on the unlikeliest of surfaces draws attention. FACT-ORY is comprised of eight containers the fronts of which are labeled H-I-S-T-O-R-Y interrupted by a “for sale” label. A mirror allows a view of the labels on the back of the containers which spells out the word fiction. While the containers appear familiar as contemporary, common, plastic oil bottles, they are actually ceramic casts.  Cravis, taking a form comfortably associated with modern culture and transforming its composition and labeling, makes it unfamiliar and thought provoking. He repeats the idea of putting together familial elements from dissimilar worlds by using framing, a shelf, and a mirror to suggest a mantle.  By placing a row of oil containers upon this mantle, the viewer’s sense of familiar soon dissipates. 

FACT-ORY was inspired by the video, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media in which Chomsky suggested that the “primary function of the mass media in the United States is to mobilize public support for the special interests that dominate the government and the private sector.” Chomsky suggests that history is shaped by what appears in the media which is subject to interpretation, or even manipulation, by special interests.  The artist uses the example of the war in Iraq, an inspiration for much of his work since September 11, 2001. In Cravis’s opinion, a war which was “. . . motivated by a desire to gain control over the world’s second largest oil reserve will be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom.”  Cravis asks, is history really factual or is fiction, a story based on fact, and is it for sale to the highest bidder?

FACT-ORY was one of two of Cravis’s works selected for the Art of the State:  Pennsylvania 2004 exhibition. Cravis was awarded 2nd place in the sculpture category for FACT-ORY and was selected as the 2004 State Museum of Pennsylvania Purchase Award making the piece part of the Museum’s permanent fine art collection. FACT-ORY will be on display at The State Museum of Pennsylvania until September 12, 2004.

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