Michael Mancarella

Storm Fall #2

2019

Mancarella's sculptures are from the series titled "Elements". Formal design principles are the basis for Mancarella's work which is typically made of wood and metal. Taken individua...

Criswell's standing sculpture emerged from a study of spatial organization by arranging basic, repetitive shapes into a harmonious balance, while exploring the concept of simultaneou...

Criswell's standing sculpture emerged from a study of spatial organization by arranging basic, repetitive shapes into a harmonious balance, while exploring the concept of simultaneou...

Criswell's standing sculpture emerged from a study of spatial organization by arranging basic, repetitive shapes into a harmonious balance, while exploring the concept of simultaneou...

Criswell's dimensional wall sculpture emerged from a study of spatial organization by arranging basic, repetitive shapes into a harmonious balance, while exploring the concept of sim...

The sunflower and the bouquet is an idea that has been floating around in the artist's head for years. It starts with the notion of the still life, the most basic subject when approaching visual art. It's the attempt to look at that which is full of life, yet by acknowledging its existence, one understands that beauty is temporary and will fade. This series starts with the flower, the symbol of fleeing beauty. By taking this character and turning it into a cast object, the artist has turned it into an icon, further removed from reality by bleeding it of color. The sunflowers then become beautiful shadows their former selves, as dying coral becomes enticing when it bleaches. They are elegant reminders of their past, whilst also becoming new figures that reference archaic notes of classical beauty expressed monochromatic hues. STATEMENT In the end, gravity always wins. It is the blunt, immutable force that has a constant effect, keeping us on the ground and ultimately pulling us into it. Sculpture by its very nature is in conversation with this pull, at times enjoying and acknowledging it, and at times trying to hide and defy it. My work recognizes the force of gravity, sometimes tacitly and sometimes overtly. It is a practice of mixing the delicate with the ordinary. I have been mining the contrasts of sculpture, relishing the materiality while also attempting to address the ephemeral. Because sculpture is so heavily rooted in the ground, one has to accept its materiality. Yet, some of the most effective work I have witnessed is that which attempts transcendence. It is that steady push and pull between mass and lightness, solidity and absence, form and void. Additionally, I am drawn towards familiar objects and associations that are embedded within them. Current work makes reference to visual anchors such as bodily forms, sagging, or bloating. Whether the product is a still life created in Scotch tape or a bouquet composed of plaster flowers, I look to the fantastic as a goal in my work. The work is intensely representational in content but without clearly assigned meaning, thus creating a disquiet. In this way I think in a surrealist vein, looking to traditional figures like Eva Hesse and Piero Manzoni, and contemporary figures like Robert Gober and Matthew Barney. The juxtaposition of the seemingly simple streamline objects with this disquiet adds a powerful force to the work, again symbolic of the contrast between the emotional life which defines us as humans and the compulsions and minutia that compose our daily lives. Joe Davidson

Eric Gushee is a Chicago based artists, who was born and raised in New York City. His interest in art was first found at Marlboro College, where he studied creative writing. But afte...

Eric Gushee is a Chicago based artists, who was born and raised in New York City. His interest in art was first found at Marlboro College, where he studied creative writing. But afte...

Untitled Steel Mesh I 2012, Jin-Sook So, steel mesh, painted, electroplated silver and gold leaf, 31.5" x 52.75" x 6.25", 2012. This abstract geometric wall sculpture was done by fi...

"Folded Form I", steel mesh, painted, electroplaited, gold and silver leaf, 12 1/4" x 12 1/4" x 12 1/4", 2004. This abstract geometric wall sculpture was done by fiber artist, Jin-S...

This abstract geometric mixed media piece was done by fiber artist, Jin-Sook So (b. 1950, Korea). So grew up in Seoul, Korea where she received a master's degree in textile art, afte...

This abstract geometric mixed media piece was done by fiber artist, Jin-Sook So (b. 1950, Korea). So grew up in Seoul, Korea where she received a master's degree in textile art, afte...