fleeting beauty

so the show in italy.
i still find it hard to believe it happened. i mean who would think that a traveling art dealer from italy would come to my studio and then offer me a show? not me.

the show was in tandem w/ Donatella Spaziani [who sadly doesn't have a website]. and i could not be happier with the pairing. in fact my dad looked at her drawings and said - they look like something you might do. so true.

in the main room of the gallery i did a wall toxin   phendyldichlorasine AND



3 SCULPTURES. yes sculptures. and this i was most excited about. because really - my work has always skated between 2D and 3D - part of what it is ABOUT is that relationship. but i have always always wanted to make something "in the round" and just could never figure out how.

and finally. i did. they are toxins. doily covered molecular models. [and thanks mom for helping me crochet enough doilies in time to get these done !]



lewistie , 2011, crochet and glass balls, 16 x 11 x 4 inches

 

dimethyl mercury , 2011, crochet and glass balls, 17 x 9 x 5 inches



carbon tetrachloride , 2011, crochet and glass balls, 16 x 8 x 5 inches

and then i had a small room all to myself. so new drawings of toxins - ALL war nerve agents [yes scary].... and some of the deforestation paintings, and a version of the doily topiary corner installation, and a few doily trees all living together....









i was also really excited by this piece. the gallery had talked to me about doing an installation in this room where strings came from the walls or drawings and connected to other drawings/walls. i loved this idea, but never having been in the space i wondered how i could pull that off. instead i thought about making a doily piece that then connected to some of the drawings. in thinking about toxins and chemistry i thought about how in basic chemistry you could burn elements and find out what they were made of based on the colors you saw in the flame.



i decided to take the doily from each chemical drawing and actually make it [and i soon realized that i could create a rainbow]. it made sense to arrange them in a circle [like a molecule, like a clock, never-ending]. and originally i was going to have the threads that stream from the center of the doilies connect to the doilies in the drawings.



but once in the space i realized i like the thread balls attached - laying on the floor. as if the doilies were generating themselves almost.



one of my favorite drawings. sulfur mustard , 2011, colored pencil, acrylic, graphite, embroidery on duralar, 7 x 7 inches



VE - detail , 2011, colored pencil, acrylic, graphite, embroidery on duralar, 16 x 16 inches

read the press release from the show or read a review [translated]

here's the entire show [slide show - you may have to click out of your reader]

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

also ... there's a new post on poppytalk : christine buckton tillman

happy mother's day weekend to all the moms out there !