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Artists in "The Persistence of Becoming" explore the idea
of the multiplicity of time: lost time, suspended time, continuous time,
and the accompanying variations of identity that are within it. Working
in mediums of painting, sculpture, video, assemblage, installation and
photography, the participating artists investigate how our past, present
and future are always in a state of decay, metamorphosis and regeneration.
The point of remembering may not be to retrieve information, but to
allow the self to endure, to sustain itself, over time. This process
is elliptical, elusive, and sometimes contradictory: you remember what
you wish to become.
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“Identity Obscura”
Identity defined as: a) sameness of essential character in different
instances b) sameness in all that constitutes the objective reality
of a thing; the distinguishing character or personality of an individual
Obscura (from camera obscura): Literally a dark chamber; A collection
of similar forms (wombs, pods?) each individual, each a dark chamber
holding a separate view. The identity contained within reflects and
absorbs the surrounding environment without defining its reality.
The delicate patterns of cracks in the sidewalk were the inspiration
for the series Terra Nova. The paintings are life-sized pictures of
portions of sidewalk. In the cracks in the concrete and the holes in
the dead leaves we see moments in the process of decay. Decay is the
essential process in transforming dead matter into new life. This gap
is perhaps the greatest and least understood of all. The natural process
of entropy is seen in once living matter and in inorganic concrete,
emphasizing their entanglement. The synthetic order shaped by human
hands is also digested by
time into raw material.
I use drawing and installation to create environments for reflection.
In this work I ask questions such as: What happens when we age? How
do we reflect on our life experience? Is the value of life in the perception
of others? In this work, I am attempting to celebrate, question, and
pay tribute to life through each individual’s experience.
all we have are memories.
everything is a memory to us. every sensory experience. every breath.
every emotion in the swirling vortex of a moment becomes memory. the
instant we experience something it is already of the past. duration
is based on perception. the duration of a memory is not only how long
the moment was, but how long it will be, how long it will last in us
as matter in our brains, how many times we recall it and the duration
of that recollection. the memories may haunt us, consume us, or even
just motivate us to the next moment... memory is just a meditation of
what's past.
photographs function the same way. they remind us of the past and impel
us into the future. they construct histories and narratives and experiences
and interactions. like memories, photographs are subjective˜there
is no singular truth, just a multiplicity of realities.
i make pictures just as i make memories. they are about my life, my
family, my home, my realities.
they are about the people i encounter, the people i create, and the
ones that i love...most of the time.
Death is peculiar. People can, and generally do,
view death with unease; an equally valid reaction is that of bemusement.
Current cultural narrative permits mortality, however the arriving genetic
revolution sees
death as yesterday‚s technology. Is death the greatest of all
finalities, or is it simply an evolutionary adaptation? My work entails
an exploration of this continuous peculiarity through the issues of
life extension, aesthetics and immortality. Focusing on mutation- which
fully replaces perfection- my work takes the form of nurtured bacteria
colonies, haptic video projections, and garments fashioned from genetic
and medical materials. Culture and Warmth come from a photographic body
of work which has involved the colonization of cells from my body- the
type that are generally removed while washing. The bacteria and fungi,
(which now have a mixture of my DNA and their own), are grown in a protective
climate and
nurtured. There is inherent continuity from constant mutation- as well
as variations of identity.
It may be that history is never more than remnants and fragments accumulated
by inheritors of a past, retold in a sensible pneumonic. In my case,
as a bread baker and a Jew, the history of the Holocaust still resonates
in strange associations and allegorical discordance. I have descended
through books, and in between, when turning the pages, I drift, however
briefly, to knowing the impossible heroics of an unrecognizable life.
I do not easily recognize the difference between the brick bread-oven
I bake in and the brick crematoria of Auschwitz. In these pages, I grapple
with what we are always capable of.
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Iconic monuments to human struggle are everywhere. They are not made
of precious materials, and they are not sites of homage or reverie.
Rather, their circumstantial locations, and coincidental perseverance
make them de facto monuments commemorating our presence.
Conversely, these constructions are reminders of our vulnerability as
they are marked with the scars of time and nature. The laws of entropy
pull on our creations, drawing their component materials back to the
earth from where they came. In this way, these monuments commemorate
the forces that are beyond human control.
Also beyond human control are the concepts of fate, luck, good fortune
and the actions of other humans. So what happens when good luck runs
out? Things fall apart. Lives change. We adapt and reassess. It is the
aftermath of loss, misfortune and unpredictability that is the stuff
of my photographs.
Through photography I explore the melancholy of forgotten and abandoned
places and objects. I collect images of these items or places hastily
left behind. They become a springboard for narrative, and a doorway
into the lives of strangers. It is a sort of forensic archeology; an
observation of the present to understand the past.
Homes is an ongoing project that started in 1999. It consists of (30)
30” x 30” color photographs of the interiors of homes in
various states of use. Some are totally abandoned and have been for
many years. Some have no permanent residents, but are frequented by
animals, or teenagers looking for a place to party. Some are seasonal
homes, and some are lived in year-round.
Owning a house is a fulfillment of the American Dream. It necessitates
money, which implies financial success. Owning a house also satisfies
one of the basic human needs for survival: shelter. Beyond that, individual
homes take on powerful emotions we impose having lived in them. Some
homes are so integral to family dynamics, that the houses themselves
become a tacit family member.
These ideals are all lost when the houses are abandoned. There is a
melancholy that exists; a sadness that clings to the walls, and lives
in the objects that remain. It is found in the postulations about how
these situations came to be and the lives of people who have moved on.
Lauren O'Neal works in a range media including drawing, photography,
projected video, and sound. Her current work explores dialogue, anonymity,
longing, frustration, and silliness. The video "Can't Get Enough
of That Wonderful Stuff" is a narrative depicting the repeated,
futile action of a woman in a trenchcoat. We sometimes push desire and
stubbornness beyond their usefulness in absurd and often contradictory
ways. O'Neal has exhibited her work at the Contemporary Artists Center
(North Adams, MA), the Photographic Resource Center/Boston University
and the Copley Society of Art (Boston, MA), and at the Instituto de
Allende (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico). She has a studio at Vernon
Street in Somerville and is
the co-curator of the "The Persistence of Becoming" exhibit.
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I create spaces that are accessed and viewed through a peephole. The
peepholes that are used offer an invitation to look but with an element
of risk. The viewers are surprised at the strange feeling of being voyeurs
and the initial sense of excitement of being drawn in to look. They
find themselves in places where they can only imagine beyond what is
offered. Although the viewers know that they can see no more, the spaces
force them to stretch their imaginations to fill in the blanks. The
lelss that is offered the greater the desire to know what is there.
Each piece is a themed "whole" produced from aesthetically
ordinary, obsolete, or cast-off parts. The use of the term new or ultra
- modern materials - with little "history", familiarity, or
depth - is kept to a minimum. Natural objects and traditional materials
are often incorporated into the constructions, echoing the used/reverted/decayed
aspects of the manufactured ones. In that the materials dictate the
form, modification of the component items is kept to a minimum so that
the integral qualities (& beauty) of the elements are maintained.
Thus the elements of the assemblage are transformed by juxtaposition
and contextual presentation rather than alteration. The works possess
conceptual themes which are addressed to the viewer's life, experiences
and attitudes. The context of the objects also suggest a morality story
or theatrical play narrative. Mildly dark humor contained in the pieces
causes the audience to question a variety of meanings. The assemblages
also reach out to the viewer through the use of light (internal and
ambient) and incorporation of movement, inviting an interaction with
the piece. Many of the works possess mirrors, lenses, or measuring devices
which invite viewer involvement in the art, or suggest simple observation.
The visual qualities, warmth of materials, and kinetic aspects of the
constructions suggest that the viewer touch or act upon the objects,
or simply gaze upon items anew.
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“…The form that confronts me I cannot
experience nor describe; I can only actualize it. And yet I see it,
radiant in the splendor of the confrontation, far more clearly than
all clarity of the experienced world. Not as a thing among the “internal”
things, not as a figment of the “imagination”, but as what
is present. Tested for its objectivity, the form is not “there”
at all; but what can equal its presence? And it is an actual relation:
it acts on me as I act on it.” - Martin Buber from I and Thou
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Sand T completed her graduate and Museum Studies
from Tufts University / the Museum School with a MFA in 1997. She is
a multidisciplinary visual artist who has been actively creating and
exhibiting her works nationally and internationally for two decades.
Mixed media collage, painting, digital documentary photography and art
installations are her working mediums. In THE PERSISTENCE OF BECOMING,
Sand T presents “THE MIND OF SPACE – UPPER STORY”,
one of her mixed media collage series dealing with the continuously
evolving conditions of a “Self’ in a multi-cultural setting.
Sand T is particularly interested in looking into the substance of transformation
(change, creation), transplantation (relocation, adaptation) and translation
(language, communication). She attempts to explore the relationships
and boundaries between two or more cultures, self and others, conscious
and subconscious, dream and reality.
Please visit ARTSomerville's events
page for information on events at The Nave Gallery.
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