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QUESTIONING PERMANENCE (2007-09)Artist Statement
In the Questioning Permanence series, I explored impermanence through the articulation of violent acts, the instability of materials, and the transience of water.
I examined violence by exhibiting it myself. Dipping a piece of cloth in ceramic slip, I hit the walls and floors. The size of my strokes demanded a distant, macroscopic position to take in the whole composition. Once the slip dried, I traced each and every splatter, stroke and swipe. I highlighted the intensity of these acts, and then completely pacified their aggression by first outlining them and then destroying them. I experienced the entire cycle of creation and destruction. I was their source, their logic, and their annihilation.
The works in this series incorporate other unstable materials, such as newsprint and refuse. These pieces age and decay, making them difficult to preserve or own. This method contradicts my multiple years of art museum work, where preservation and protected presentation was the focus. Instead, these pieces capture a moment that quickly becomes the past, and that transformation is expressed literally by the material.
