August 4 - September 6, 2015
Birth and growth, decay and death - we go through these life processes in deeply personal ways. Each of us experiences life uniquely while rooted in a common humanity. We sense that we are more than these frames of bones and canvases of skin; they define us to an extent but our identity goes deeper than these familiar forms.
In ‘Bearing Image’, five artists create works that reflect the body beyond mere illustrative or representational forms. Employing natural colors and organic shapes, these artists use rice, ink, metal, twine, dirt and other varied materials to forge impressions and construct figures that point beyond its physicality. Each piece bears the image of the human body without using any of its recognizable aspects. Through the artist’s application of these materials, our understanding of how we typically know these materials to function (dirt, rice, cloth, etc.) shifts to something intangible.
The artist’s intentional manipulation and choice of materials expand our understanding of what our bodies are comprised of, what we can feel through our senses, and allows us to revisit our body’s basic elements and functions. We are asked to see the human image through these prosaic yet transformed materials to explore the precious fragility and mystery of what we all carry in our bodies.
Exhibiting artists: Kelly Larsen, Courtney Hughes, Michael Watson, Yasmeen Abdallah, Chelsea Horvath
