"You observe that the walls are made entirely of multihued amber pieces flattened and melted together like used chewing gum, though each piece has been carefully modeled to resemble the leaf of a ginkgo tree, or a fish scale—elegant and repulsive, at once. A few feet away from where you’re standing, a small, filigreed table is attached to the corner of the room, poised there on a single, turned leg like a prostitute amputee. The table holds a reluctant clock face buried among black and gilt leaves. Time passes through it like liquid squeezed back and forth inside a balloon.

Several ornate frames built into wall panels line the room. Some contain additional, inset frames and swags topped by regal crowns and supported by mythological figures, chariots, soldiers, swords, voluptuous amphibians, and papery flowers, every
mechanical and anatomical detail sculpted in amber. The frame directly in front of you surrounds a Florentine mosaic assembled from quartz, jade, onyx, and other stones, one of four pictures that punctuate the room like clear eyes in a

world-worn face. Each depicts a different sensory perception, except this one, which doubles as an allegory of
touch and smell. Two couples frolic among classical ruins. One companion strokes another’s face. A third holds a flower under a fourth’s nose."

 

Angie Keefer