In this work, the forms and shapes which arose from the clay are akin to thoughts. Some are comic and frivolous, others procedural and repetitive. Some are reminiscent of histories, including prior thoughts, earlier epochs, or natural evolutionary phenomenon. As I worked, they became a thought language for me. Each seemed in dialogue with its neighbors-though what they may say to each other is kept from my ears. Although they are just thoughts which come and go as they please, I have grown attached to their idiosyncrasies. Like poor relations, I have love for each of them: the deformed, the boastful and the minor.
Poor Relations, 2018- Present. Ceramic. Selection from series.
Composition
Pigmented Plaster, Sound. 2017
The early 20th century visionary composer Alexander Scriabin created a system to describe his experience of music as pure color. Reflecting on his writings, I created a series of tinted plaster casts then asked three musicians, each with synesthesia, to interpret what this visual composition might sound like.
Musicians-
Vedran Mehinovic- Bass
Yayoi Ikawa- Piano
Ian Kieffer- Voice
This stack of ornate, stark white tables rises to fill the vertical space of the gallery. Atop this striking grouping of forms (and invisible to the ground level observer) is a tabletop bearing a lavish display of fruit. It is only through a mirror suspended from the ceiling that the viewer glimpses this alluring yet ultimately unreachable bounty.
Still Life
Wooden Tables, Mirror, Paint, Fresh fruit, plaster. Dimensions variable. 2008
There is no time, she said as she.
Copper, oxidizing agent. 98"x45", 2006
This piece, made of copper oxidized, cut and painstakingly woven by the artist was executed over several months in order to express the relationship between labor and duration. Although it is constructed from materials traditionally associated with men’s labor, the techniques utilized reflect the work’s intersection with the domestic, traditionally feminine sphere.
Dozens of colorful spools of thread rest on a mirror-topped pedestal in individually sealed, handmade glass cases. Through careful display these quotidian objects have become celebrated and rarefied artifacts. The spools (which I found while cleaning out my grandfather’s apartment after his death) invite the viewer to reflect upon the elusive connections between family and memory, labor and loss.
A quiet life after the war, 2012
Thread, glass, mirror. 32"x44"x36"
Knot, 2009
Rope, Chain, Steel jackposts
A 150 pound sphere of solid manila rope is cleanly split in two, being held into place by the tensioning posts on either side. Referencing the Gordian knot of Alexandrian lore, Knot suggests the violence of contemporary American policies as well as the impossibility of restoring the body politic after it has been torn asunder.
Yahrzeit is the annual memorial given to departed family members and loved ones in the Jewish faith. The yahrzeit candle is lit, accompanied by prayer, and allowed to burn, uninterrupted, until it extinguishes itself. This piece, created by exposing a roll of paper to the flame of a yahrzeit candle for twenty-four hours, attempts to graphically represent the duration of the Jewish memorial ritual. However, just as there is inevitably not enough space to display the more than 2000 feet of charred paper that accumulated during this process, there is not enough space in one’s mind to remember and reflect upon the totality of an individual who has been lost.
Yahrzeit
Thermal paper, ash. 9" x 2000'. 2007
Vergence
Found wood, plexiglass, reading glasses. 8'x8'x9' 2009
This one room dwelling made of discarded construction material is a free standing sculpture/ installation. Through the use of extremely crude optics and store bought eyeglasses the interior is transformed into a walk-in camera obscura, a place of unexpected beauty.
Composition 1
Housewares, glasses. 3'x5'. 2007
The evident of a violent disturbance is here aestheticied. The hard lines of this geometric shape barely contain the vibrant, colorful broken shards, inviting the viewer to imagine the explosive energy which destroyed these wares.
A 2 foot by 3 foot rectangle is cut from the wall of the gallery. Upon the substructure of the wall is taped a letter addressed not to the exhibition audience, but to the worker who will find the note during some future renovation. This piece is a meditation on divisions within labor, the production of exhibition and art spaces and the idea of cultural capital. It also acts as a eulogy to the artist Christopher D’Archangelo who committed suicide just one block from the gallery space.
Exhibition notes
Paper, painters tape, sheetrock. 2010
How to Stay Free
Screening, Discussion, online publication. 2009
A series of open meetings where the interactions between aesthetics and politics were discussed. We screened footage of a 1980 documentary by Economist Milton Freedman entitled “Free to Choose” where he explains the foundations of Neoliberalism just as these policies are about to alter American and world politics irrevocably. Artists, academics, writers and filmmakers presented work and thoughts to add to the freeform discussions.
