Fleming, however, looked tortured by both the position and the wax and when after two hours, he stood up, he seemed unable to straighten up. As soon as he left the room, members of the audience stood up to touch the drops of molten wax to assure themselves that it wasn't boiling hot. But this piece puzzles and intrigues me. He presents himself in certain ways during his performances, but in a sense, he turns himself into an object, head down and covered with wax. The entire performance presented a formal, changing, but static form.
Endurance is clearly a motif.
Perhaps it is this defiant style that has kept critics slightly at bay, not really wanting to address the race or sexual issues. Fleming has been welcomed in Europe, perhaps they study the same things about this country that he does, including race and gender issues, and yet as Europeans, they can listen and watch without discomfort. His manner of presenting, but not explaining, is also challenging. This dazzling, unreligious, but holy construction looked like a silver altar when it was found in a garage. James Hampton had made it with scrap materials, never dreaming, I suspect, that it would travel far and wide and be carefully lit in major museums.