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Indepth Arts News:
"bits ‘n’ pieces: Curated by Beth Venn"
2003-02-08 until 2003-03-30
d.u.m.b.o. arts center
Brooklyn, NY,
USA United States of America
bits ‘n’ pieces features the work of seven artists who consider the
interdependence of small elements within a larger context. At the root of
each work is a single unit that, when multiplied and manipulated through
repetitive labor, illustrates the dictum: "the whole is greater than the sum
of its parts." Like a growth that begins with a single cell, or an image
based on a tiny pixel, the drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations
in bits ‘n’ pieces allow the smallest building block to stand as a discrete
element at the same time as it is subsumed into the whole.
The components forming Jane South’s elaborate constructions are made from
paper, and are hooked and hung together to create a meandering wonder of
engineering. Each discrete but interdependent element joins with its shadow
to generate a structure in which each piece contributes to the integrity of
the whole. Similarly, Alyson Shotz hand-makes, stacks and interlocks
individual sculptural forms to make a finished work. The small protrusions
on each stick-like form hold the piece together and lend it an open,
architectural quality. Through another obsessively painstaking process,
Rachel Schuder reforms everyday brown paper bags into hundreds of tiny
handmade reproductions. Thus the whole is divided into parts, each of which
references its origin.
The core of Tara Donovan’s drawings is a simple spiral. Clustering like
growths out of control, these appear to replicate themselves spontaneously
and endlessly. A repetitive, almost meditative process characterizes the
methodology of Devorah Sperber, who joins together thousands of colored pipe
cleaners into pixel-like components that form surprisingly naturalistic
images. Working with the individual abstract elements that form a classic
Chuck Close self-portrait, she tests just how little visual information is
necessary for the viewer to complete the picture.
Rather than fashion her works piecemeal by hand, Jean Shin collects mundane
cast-offs, transforming them through her own repetitive actions into large
installations that suggest a new context for otherwise unusable materials.
Her aim is to create a new relationship of the parts to the whole. In
Nightscape, remnants gathered from clothing manufacturers are methodically
strewn across the floor to form a seamless rolling landscape.
Valerie Atkisson considers each individual in relation to a family unit,
using names, birth and death dates as the building blocks of her
genealogically inspired watercolors and gouaches. In Radial Family History,
generations are given physical form as she painstakingly lists and
illustrates each name. In Hanging Family History, the bulk and breadth of
each successive generation may be understood in three dimensions, as names
written on paper triangles cascade down a physical family tree.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs. Sponsored by Harvey S. Shipley Miller, The
Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, The
Peter Norton Family Foundation, The Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Inc., David
and Jane Walentas, The Independence Community Foundation, The Sam and Adele
Golden Foundation for the Arts, Inc., and the JPMorgan Chase Regrant Program
administered by Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc.
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