Fossils

Ellen Harvey designed Fossils for the café courtyard of the IRS service center.  From a distance, the sculptures resemble natural rock outcroppings, similar to those found throughout New England.  Upon closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that these are not ordinary formations. Petrified computer monitors, hard drives and keyboards emerge from the rocks, seemingly frozen in time.  These fanciful fossils were hand-carved by Jill Burkee, based on Harvey’s concept models.

Fossils was inspired by the constantly changing nature of technology and its inevitable cycles of obsolescence.  Just as the paper filing of tax returns largely has been replaced by electronic filing, Harvey has said that these sculptures “play with the idea that at some time in the future, we may no longer even use physical computers.”  Thus, the oversized, box-like computer monitors depicted in Fossils are conspicuously outdated.  Like the ruined and overgrown office space depicted in Harvey’s nearby mirrored-glass artwork, Fossils addresses the fleeting nature of time, a common theme in the history of art.  Harvey’s arrangement of her sculptures in the IRS courtyard also was inspired by Japanese rock gardens, which are places for relaxation and contemplation.