Diane Durant

Talk about Texas, and someone invariably mentions its size. You can drive all day and never leave the state; you can drive all the way to El Paso and still only be halfway to California. In true conceptual form, I tried to follow Eleanor Antin. I only got halfway. started as a title, an idea, a challenge. Paying homage to Eleanor Antin and her 100 Boots, we set out to follow her lead. We only got to El Paso. And only with 50 Boots. Documenting our own state in our own time, producing half the work with half the boots, we made it halfway to Antin’s Southern California and home again, with a few detours and setbacks along the way. As a performative journey and installation both, I tried to follow Eleanor Antin. I only got halfway. references artists from John Baldessari to Robert Smithson and sociopolitical concerns from immigration to border security, all through the voice of an anthropomorphized 50 Boots, who make it to the other side, get lost in a snowstorm, see hope in the distance, hide, pay respects, rest, do it, and do it again.