Arvo Leo : this is the cow

From December 17th, 2009 to January 20th, 2010 I traveled to India to create two distinct yet entwined bodies of work based around the Holy Cows. Taking the cow as a central subject, I produced a 45 minute film experiment that merges unexpected combinations of common everyday objects i.e. cows, plants, piles of dirt, water etc to produce a veering narrative that is sustained by the cow as the reoccurring character. The film is at once a study of an animal’s role in daily life but also a challenge in how one can make a portrait of a place without making humans the main characters. The film expanded from a Dérive-like process that prioritized unscripted occurrences within varying environments and sought to produce a slow-paced work that would allow room for the viewer’s own ruminations upon a ruminating animal.

In addition to the film I collaborated and worked with numerous sign painters, strangers, and fellow travelers in an attempt to produce ninety-nine painting and collage experiments. The subject of these works developed from a hand-painted sign hung around the neck of a cow in the book One Hundred Years of Solitude: THIS IS THE COW, SHE MUST BE MILKED EVERY MORNING SO THAT SHE WILL PRODUCE MILK AND THE MILK MUST BE BOILED IN ORDER TO BE MIXED WITH COFFEE TO MAKE COFFEE AND MILK.