Artlog

Nonpareil

by CEFA / 28 days ago

Nonpareils:: Martha Whittington @ CEFA 909 Central Avenue St. Petersburg, FL

January 9 – February 28, 2008

The floor acts as a typographic map recreating our melting ice caps as cyclones hypnotically, both beautiful in nature and symbolic of planetary destruction. Man, a great creator as well as an unequaled destroyer, views the terrain from a superior position, almost as a god. An ambiguity in impression is of destruction (melting, vacuity) or of reconstruction (protection, reconstitution).

The sculptural elements are minimal geometric archetypes constructed of synthetic materials: naugahyde, nylon parachute cord. The paper works, symbolic cut out shapes, reflect the vortex and at the same time, the ice caps.

Artist Statement

My sculpture addresses the human experience, whether life and labor, disease and/or death. I use site specific installations to construct an environment or atmosphere for the viewer to observe and experience physically and emotionally. In this created environment, illusions and apparitions, something seen out of the corner of the eye and then not seen, act as a milieu for my kinetic works.

I employ light, shadow and reflection as object to create a perceptual shift from direct conscious viewing to subtle, unconscious experience. Neutral shades of black, white and gray reference the Renaissance technique of Chiaroscuro and strengthen this perceptual shift.

The sounds produced by the kinetic works reinforce the idea of the un-seen, creating an uncertain tempo and a recurring aural or visual signal. The sound could be a metronome used to mark time or an antique industrial machine run by the ghost of the laborer.

The environment created appears monastic: simple and sometimes fragile. The installations I create have a brief existence and are rarely ever reproduced after their showing. A still image, a memory, a recalled emotion is all that remains.