|
Statement |
|
Globalization as well as shifting paradigms of how we communicate – social platforms of the internet including facebook, twitter, and others enables our culture to embrace dissimilar combinations of ideas simultaneously, to engage and communicate easily and swiftly among a multitude of forms, and to accept the concepts of space and time in unique and engaging ways. These are some of the influences that spark my work. In my search for materials which began in Taiwan, I found the mesh among several materials which are packed in room-sized containers for ships to transport to major industrial sites around the globe. For several years now, I have been experimenting with industrial materials – transforming the mesh from its intended use. Manufactured by extrusion molding machines in China, these materials have a variety of commercial purposes worldwide. Transforming the mesh from its intended use not only reinvents the materials, but becomes a metaphor for the perpetual organic morphing of other global cultural changes reflected and challenged by the integration of political, religious, social, and economic ideas beliefs and standards. Concepts of light, space and multiple dimensions form some of the undercurrents of my thought process as I engage in creating the work. The mesh possesses weave patterns and transparencies that, when layered or manipulated, relate directly to affects achieved with paint. Color and light play an integral role enhancing the atmospheric transparency and ephemerality of the mesh. The often large size and placement of the work from wall to floor to suspended from the ceiling, provides a varied context for experiencing the work and the viewer’s position within the exhibition space – challenging their notions about space and their proximity within it. The work shares forms of painting and sculpture with industrial materials to lead the viewer to take an intimate look at seemingly ordinary mesh that because of what has been done to it, transcends its function. Cathy Breslaw
|