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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Pretty, but ....



About a year ago I stumbled on the work of Janet Edelman. I watched her TED talk and was impressed by the innovation and imagination that it takes to create and mount her sculptures. But, beyond the first impression made by the photos and videos, her work left me cold. I don't know why. It seems like it is something that I would like - she works on a very large scale, there are repeated forms and it would be fair to consider her creations as fabric.

I think it is because the images that I see on my computer screen seem superficial and devoid of meaning. Echelman's artist statement says this: "By combining meaning with physical form, it strives to create a visceral experience in diverse city environments, .....". She references 'meaning' but my research only found a reference to substance beyond form in her piece entitled 1.26 which is derived from the behaviour of a tsunami which originated in Chile.

In the last six weeks several friends have sent me links to her website. Her work is featured in the November 2014 issue of Smithsonian magazine. I  read the article and re-visited her website and was interested to note that her most recent work is certainly based in ideas and meaning. Yet I look at the images and don't see or feel it. I guess I will have to visit a city where she has installed a sculpture to experience it in person.


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