Contrast

This work consists of a list of names, displayed in columns, as if it were a war memorial or a roll of honour. They are the names of everyone the artist has ever met, or more precisely, everyone he can remember meeting. Gordon says of this work, 'It was an accurate and honest statement but it was full of mistakes (like forgetting the names of some friends), so there were some embarrassing elements in the work, but that all seemed to be quite close to the truth of how our head functions anyway. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.'

This reminds me of the classic situation when you are walking down the street and you see someone you went to highschool with. Now, chances are, you saw this person 5 times a week for 6 years. So, say you are in school for 9 months of the year, thats 36 weeks a year for 6 years, which is a total of 216 weeks. Then, say 5 days a week for 9 months for 6 years, thats 1080 possible times in which you could have seen them and confirmed their existance. Now, I dont know if it's vanity or fear, but why do you not say 'hello' to them? There are so many possible connections, personal and business, that can be made every day, yet, for the best part, most people will only know a tiny circle. Even those who make an exceptional effort to meet as many people as possible, will only ever know a fraction of the people in their own town, let alone the country, nevermind the world.