Extrakestrakos: Pieralli)(Favi

Return, 2009. INSTALLATION SHOT.

A work of art has a particularly strong impact on its audience when they find themselves fully interacting with the piece. The glamour of Extrakestrakos is not only found in the blast of color and mixed media, but from the new perspective the installation provides.

Suspance 3, 2008.

As you enter the exhibit you are encouraged to stand on Suspance 3 and look at the explosion of Return ahead of you.  Gazing downwards into a spiraling splat of shapes, colors, and textures you find yourself in the piece, as opposed to standing a comfortable distance away from the work to admire it. It is common sense to refrain from touching artwork in a gallery or museum and even in the street, however, when Extrakestrakos was being installed a few coworkers asked for my help to position Suspance 3 in the center of the floor. By habit I was extremely cautious about handling the piece as delicately as I could. I was caught off guard when after it had been properly positioned they started to walk across it! Eventually they explained to me that this was a carpet and was meant to be walked on. I carefully placed my right foot on the edge of the piece and made my way to the center. First looking down I felt a falling sensation; it was as if I was being swallowed by what looked like a hole in the floor. Yet as I looked up I stopped falling and was suspended in this galaxy that Saverio Pieralli and Valentina Favi had created. From the center of Suspance 3 you can observe the whole exhibit as though you have become part of it, or as Valentina Favi describes it, "Everything, whether it realizes it or not, is always connected with the whole. The more something is open to interaction, the more it can enjoy being connected"1.

Pieralli)(Favi choose to use mixed media that resembles the textures of materials such as wood, brick, marble, and stone which can be closely associated with the raw building materials of strong structures such as homes and bridges. The presence of pencil lines drawn on the walls surface, in conjunction with the concept of bridges, leads me to believe that this galaxy unites even the most dissimilar objects, "…thus proving that the universe is ultimately a seamless web"2. It is a network of mixed planets that each plays their own role in this diverse supernova, while sharing a common origin.

Left to Right: Gisterix and Its Sister (2009), Spher Spirals (1958), Study for Stars (1948).

Gisterix and Its Sister reminds me of an optical illusion. It is fascinating how the artists were able to build a maze of planks so twisted around the centered structure that ultimately prevents the viewer from distinguishing where the protrusions begin and end. It is almost as if the wood is in orbit around a misshapen marble planet. This theme of continuing forms in concurrence with optical illusions is reminiscent of M.C. Escher's woodcuts, Study for Stars and Spher Spirals.

The subject of the never-ending object appears within this exhibit many times. The repetition of circular, orbiting figures and the significance of the overall galactic quality of the exhibition suggests the notion of birth and rebirth. I learned this summer, when visiting the Hayden Planetarium, that when a star reaches the end of its life it bursts and emits new matter that will later form new stars. The Return may be interpreted as the birth and rebirth of a star that explodes releasing an assortment of new life that forms the cosmos Extrakestrakos.

1. Favi, Valentina. (Translation by Ernesto Mardones).

2. de la Ossa, Ana Maria. Extrakestrakos Press Release. 2010.

Photographs by Suzy Storr.
Woodcut reproductions courtesy of the M.C. Escher Official Website at http://www.mcescher.com/.

The Maiden Voyages Project: Valerie Hird

The complete diary of VH. INSTALLATION SHOT.

A diary is a very personal. It can reveal the darkest secrets in a person’s life, help to unleash feelings that are too hard to express aloud, or simply review the daily life of an individual. However, for those who have trouble with words, including myself, drawings can provide the opportunity to express oneself through visual narration. Valerie Hird’s The Maiden Voyages Project has introduced a way in which men and women can communicate their experiences in the universal language of illustration.

From the diary of DB.

Upon first entering the exhibit at the Nohra Haime Gallery, I immediately noticed a cohesive drawing style between all five diaries. Each diary is presented in a collage/comic book fashion with one page divided into sections describing different moments in their lives. The figures depicted in the entries appear as cartoonish representations of the individual artist’s family and friends. The balance of light and dark shading creates a dramatic effect in the pieces, especially with use of vellum paper as a top layer, and finally, the color scheme is very similar in each diary.

The biographies briefly describing the backgrounds of the participating women clearly reveal the cultural and religious diversity between them. The resemblance between the overall messages of their dairies gives rise to this feeling that they are not all that different from each other. In the span of a year a lot happens in a person’s life but when these women were deciding what to put in their diaries they all drew about what was most important to them: their families, their love life, their religion, their obstacles, and their accomplishments.

I have tried a number of times in my life to start a diary. Each time I begin with so much enthusiasm and then end abruptly. I have trouble getting my thoughts out on paper but when I pick up a paintbrush it seems as though my writers block disappears. Illustrated diaries have no single meaning; they can be interpreted and analyzed in numerous ways. They do not have to start with “Dear Diary” and they are not limited to audiences that speak the artist’s language.

From the diary of SK.

The Maiden Voyages Project has introduced a new form of personal expression. If more men and women were to keep illustrated diaries they may notice the similarities between themselves and their peers in ways that words cannot describe. This project can become a universal way to bridge the gap between cross-cultural differences, understanding, and communication.

Photographs by Suzy Storr.

Visit The Maiden Voyages Project online for further information.

Introduction

I am now entering the art world from a professional point of view. Although I have grown up surrounded by gallery openings, MoMa dinners, Venice Biennale preparations, and a never-ending art library, I feel as though I haven’t quite immersed myself in the culture, but rather appreciated the talent and glamour from afar.

Recently I began working at the Nohra Haime Gallery in midtown and already after only two weeks I feel as though I have started to build the ground work of a future career path. I am still an undergraduate but have chosen to major in the visual arts and now have the opportunity to work alongside experienced professionals as I explore this new chapter of my life.

I want to give my personal contribution to art in a way that I can express my own thoughts and opinions. I believe that there is no better way to understand the world of art than to dive in head first and see what happens. In an effort to familiarize myself with writing about art I have started this blog where I will recount my initial reactions to various exhibits and artists that I encounter on my journey.