MATERIAL MEDITATION Jodi Colella Linc Cornell Denise Driscoll Michael Frassinelli Lisa Kellner Yuya Shiratori
New Art Center
CONTENTS
New Art Center 61 Washington Park Newtonville, MA 02460 www.newartcenter.com
Material Meditation Jodi Colella Linc Cornell Denise Driscoll Michael Frassinelli Lisa Kellner Yuya Shiratori Denise Driscoll, curator
Lisa Kellner, detail of shadow cast by Untitled (The Emperor Has No Clothes)
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Foreward Ceci Mendez
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Introduction Denise Driscoll
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Artist Plates
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Jodi Colella
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Linc Cornell
18
Denise Driscoll
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Michael Frassinelli
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Lisa Kellner
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Yuya Shiratori
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Exhibition List
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Artist Biographies
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Acknowledgements
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Contact Information
40
Credits
FOREWARD Ceci Mendez To experience Material Meditation is to revel in an animated world. Walking through the space, one can contemplate an endless variation of visions where ropes congregate, paper envelopes align, and piano parts conspire. Rest assured, these hardy materials are complemented by the more seemingly delicate but equally formidable ones, and the movement continues: silk pods amass, rubber lace hovers, and shadows cast through aluminum screens hum. All one has to do is breathe and movement can be witnessed everywhere. Even in the relative stillness of the completed installation, there is constant evidence of action. Quite literally a bountiful variety of material matter spreads across the floor, crawls out of corners, reaches up and flows over the walls, transforming the New Art Center Main Gallery into a uniquely meditative and active installation space for which it is magnificently suited.
The New Art Center has been showing the work of artists and curators for thirty-one years, since it was incorporated as a non-profit community arts center in 1977. Since 1991, public calls to artists and curators have brought dynamic, provocative exhibitions to the Center through the Curatorial Opportunity Program. Through this process artists and curators, both emerging and established, have proposed and realized their visions in this unique exhibition space. The curator and artists of Material Meditation have made the ultimate use of the Curatorial Opportunity Program and its potential as a place and space to foment ideas, experiment with possibilities, and realize individual projects while participating in a unified vision. Like their materials of choice, the artists of Material Meditation themselves gathered, spread apart, and re-assembled several times throughout the months leading up to the exhibition. As evidenced in this work, transformation through intense
focus was a constant companion to each of these makers. The physical materiality of the works are rich with symbolic associations that reflect on concepts as broad and varied as genetics, politics, culture, history, myth, identity, and not least: a true love of objects. That these issues are simply — and complexly — fragments of our whole human condition is no coincidence. They, too, are contributing parts to a greater whole.
Ceci Mendez is the Director of Exhibitions & Community Partnerships at the New Art Center in Newton. She received a BA from Brown University (1996) and an MFA from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design (2002). She is an artist, curator, poet, and educator. Her films have screened in festivals across the United States and she has exhibited her work in various venues in Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, Mexico, and Japan. She lives in Roslindale, MA.
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INTRODUCTION Denise Driscoll What does it mean to be one of several billion? What connects us to ourselves, to each other, to the world? How do we navigate today’s technology? How do we present ourselves to others? How do we locate ourselves in history? How do we manage the proliferation of so much stuff? The six emerging artists of Material Meditation turn to their work as they ask these and many other questions. With materials as varied as wood, silk, paper, aluminum screen, rubber and rope they gather, fragment, and reassemble their materials into objects that become physical contemplations, examining the relationship of part to whole. Made with hundreds or thousands of elements, these works could be models of cellular structures, social networks or stars within a galaxy. Increasingly connected with digital technology, we are in danger of forgetting how to be alone with our thoughts. This ability to tap into vast amounts of information can be turned to unlimited positive use, yet simply managing our means of access
exerts increasingly frequent and timeconsuming engagement. Bouncing between cellphone, email and other digital prompts keeps our attention on the surface, in informationmanagement mode, and prevents dipping into deeper creative states of reverie or meditation.Within their devoted processes of working, these artists find an expansive inner space where thoughts, experiences and intuitions may connect. Each artist acknowledges that the physical objects being made are merely conduits for and evidence of that inner transformative work. Many authors find that they are able to write about a certain place only when they have located themselves elsewhere. In much the same way, the artists of Material Meditation have chosen to step away from the electronically mediated world and to work with their hands, not to speak against the forces that shape our times as much as to give them visible form. Work that repeats elements or gestures countless times is sometimes dubbed obsessive-compulsive. When focus is removed from the obsessive qualities of such activity 7
and redirected to the focused physical engagement this work requires, a healthy counterbalance is suggested more than aberrant behavior. The artist creates a refuge of sustained activity when sewing, gluing, folding, tying, arranging and constructing objects of countless elements. In this activity the slower surer cumulative knowledge of the body is given time to emerge and take form. Repetitive, physically grounded work both demands and generates the ability to focus on one thing at a time. Sustaining consistent, persistent and cumulative effort across emotional, physical and social distractions is not an obsession as much as a practice that permits smaller notions to coalesce into larger ideas, seemingly disparate events to resolve into pattern, and in reverse, incomprehensible problems to be broken into manageable increments. The work itself grows into models of human experience and of the web of connections we have always lived within as well as those we are newly able to create. The artists began Material Meditation by agreeing to think of the gallery as a single cohesive space. As they 8
worked on their singular efforts, they held the qualities of each other’s work in awareness. Each of the resulting works may stand alone, yet when installed together in the New Art Center Main Gallery, all combine to hold a larger conversation. In turn, visitors may enter the same conversation through their own particular sensibilities. During installation, the presence of shadow became a unifying aspect of this work so emphatically engaged with physical material. The shadows that are cast on the walls, floor and people suggest those unseen webs of connection that began each individual inquiry. By what invisible forces are we shaped? Are we in a cave watching shadows appear on the wall or are we the shadow-casters?
Jodi Colella Undercurrent We live in a world that is at variance with the obvious. Superficially speaking of one thing while conveying something else. This is unsettling, turbulent and stressful. We absorb. We synthesize. We render. Seeking meaning from relationships. Order out of chaos. Our actions flow in the current above. Our truths wade in the surface below. — JC
Jodi Colella Undercurrent (detail) 2008 aluminum screen, steel wire 72” x 108” x 7” 11
Seeds Hundreds of thousands of punches with a needle created these objects. Accumulated energy contained in a state of dormancy. Positive potential at the ready. Manifestations of rebirth, optimism and promise. — JC
Jodi Colella Seeds (detail) 2008 felted wool, various dimensions 12
Linc Cornell Beach Knots Walking the beaches of Cape Cod and the Islands, I have collected discarded and washed up rope. These weathered, worn knots from a distant sailor become psychological portraits. I see these found objects as metaphors of how we twist and turn ourselves into psychological knots. It’s amazing how they function as a Rorschach inkblot test, becoming mirrors reflecting our experience and state of mind along with our dreams and fears. These knots signify a binding of us together, weaving a connection, a symbol of eternity with an effortless grace. But they also symbolize disorder, chaos and even depression and mental illness. I continue to walk the beaches... — LC
left, above and following page:
Linc Cornell Beach Knots (detail) 2008 found beach knots, photography dimensions variable 15
Dreams decay into memories, Of rhythm and light, Eyes float across the still water. An outsider stands, isolated In the silence of this obscured space. Exposed to the wind, the rain and snow, Revealing feelings that linger. Ideas warp into seductive frayed knots, Boundaries twist into paths. A jar shatters under the sacred hill, Fearing to lose my grip, Smoldering emotions are revealed. I vanish into reflection, It is a metamorphosis of the heart, Even as this page weathers in time. The dance of beauty and decay, Releasing the natural forces of transformation. The bell tower measures our time. — LC
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Denise Driscoll DNA Blanket: Labyrinth Working incrementally, building an accumulation of parts, I find my own voice among the myriad messages encountered each day. Fragmenting and reassembling materials piece by piece models any transformation within my grasp. In blanket-like forms, I color-code the ACTG sequences of human DNA, the infinite complexity held in common between myself and every other human. What is forms a foundation for what might be. The envelope is a container that may be empty or full, transparent or opaque, open or closed. Connected with a web of string, these painted paper envelopes become a labyrinth, the mysterious and the familiar encountered one moment at a time. — DD
left and following page:
Denise Driscoll DNA Blanket: Labyrinth (detail) 2008 paper, paint, string 168” x 156” 19
Michael Frassinelli Pianista Observatorium The Pianista Observatorium is part of an ongoing body of work, developed over the last few years about a fictional tribe known as the Pianistas, an obscure culture that used piano parts as the raw material for all their basic needs, in much the same way tribes from the Great Plains utilized the buffalo. These artifacts include tools, ceremonial objects, masks, costumes and jewelry, musical instruments, shelter, weapons and other items. The original purpose for these objects, how they are described by art historians and anthropologists, and what happened to these objects over the course of history is all part of an on-going storyline, which continues to evolve. The objects, materials and written documentation are exhibited in the style and tone of a Natural History Museum. The series examines and pokes fun at the relationship between “primitive” cultures and museums, while at the same time exploring my interest in the history and transformation of objects and materials. — MF
left and following page:
Michael Frassinelli Pianista Observatorium (details and installation view), 2008 piano parts: various woods, stell and copper wire, felt, ivory, hardware and mechanisms, recorded sound 132” x 96” x 96” 23
Lisa Kellner Untitled (The Emperor Has No Clothes) Merging materiality and language, this installation explores aspects of the physical and emotional veneer. It examines the nature and efficacy of a cultural construct. Silk, a material laden with history and meaning, is used here to assemble a facade. Unique to silk is the ability to retain the shape of objects and forms no longer present. Construction encompasses repetition without replication, suggesting the import of the fragment as well as the whole. Partially concealed by the silk structure, text, derived from Senatorial debates, is used to outline the original US Senate building. Language can craft a point of view from which leaders and nations are formed. Ultimately, this piece sifts through the superficiality of words and objects in forming the structure of an image. — LK
Lisa Kellner Untitled (The Emperor Has No Clothes), 2008 silk organza, thread, dye, wood, ink, monofilament, text 83” x 228” x 32” 27
Lisa Kellner Untitled (The Emperor Has No Clothes), 2008 silk organza, thread, dye, wood, ink, monofilament, text 83” x 228” x 32” 29
Yuya Shiratori RE: Air Trying to speak with material is the most important part of my working process. Smell it, Touch it, See it, Cut it, Weave it, Slice it, Sew it ... I do a lot of experiments as much as possible, and then find the best way for the specific space. I RE: use the wasted material and try to find the possibilities of what the materials want to be next. The process I had for making RE: Air is not very complicated. I just continue the same process over and over. Slice and Glue down. I see the material in front of me, and follow my hands, materials, and tools. I need to react with what material I am using, and what kind of environment in the world I am living now. — YS
Yuya Shiratori RE: Air (detail) 2008 inner tubes, glue, monofilament, chair dimensions variable 31
Yuya Shiratori RE: Air (installation view and detail) 2008 inner tubes, glue, monofilament, chair dimensions variable 33
EXHIBITION LIST
Jodi Colella
Linc Cornell
Denise Driscoll
Seeds, 2008 felted wool dimensions variable
Beach Knots, 2008 found beach knots, photography dimensions variable
DNA Blanket: Labyrinth, 2008 paper, paint, string 168” x 156”
Undercurrent, 2008 aluminum screen, steel wire 72” x 108” x 7”
Gene Packets, 2008 paper, paint, string 36” x 12” One small change, 2008 paper, glue, contributed words and objects dimensions variable
Michael Frassinelli
Lisa Kellner
Yuya Shiratori
Constellations, 2008 piano parts dimensions variable
Untitled (The Emperor Has No Clothes), 2008 silk organza, thread, dye, wood, ink, monofilament, text 83” x 228” x 32”
RE: Air, 2008 inner tubes, glue, monofilament, chair dimensions variable
Pianista Observatorium, 2008 piano parts: various woods, steel and copper wire, felt, ivory, hardware and mechanisms, recorded sound 132” x 96” x 96”
Continuum, The Structure of Happening, and Tethered Unfolding of Everything, 2008 graphite on paper 21” x 30” Traverse, 2008 silk organza, metal framing, text, glue 22” x 22” x 2” Walked Ways, 2008 silk organza, metal framing, text, glue 12” x 12” x 2”
Omoide in my Head, 2008 graphite on paper 72” x 43”
ARTIST BIOS
Jodi Colella received a BA from Boston University (1981) and studied at Massachusetts College of Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Danforth Museum School and Castle Hill Center for the Arts. Her work has been included in national exhibitions including Cambridge Artists Association, Fuller Craft Museum, New Hampshire Institute of Art, Blanche Ames Art Exhibition, The Center for Art in Natick and the Danforth Museum. She teaches workshops at the DeCordova Museum School and several other private venues. Colella resides in Wellesley, MA. 36
Linc Cornell received his MFA from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University (2007) and his BS in Photojournalism from Syracuse University (1979). He has been awarded over 25 local and national awards during his career as an advertising and corporate photographer. In 2008, his sculptural installations have appeared in the 30th Contemporary Sculpture show at Chesterwood (Stockbridge, MA) and Art in the Park (Worcester, MA) where he was awarded 2nd place. Linc was recently elected to the Lesley University Alumni Council and he is the Weston High School’s Boys Varsity Hockey Coach. Cornell resides in Natick, MA.
Denise Driscoll received her MFA from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University (2007) and a BA from the University of South Carolina (1982). Her work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Boston, the Boston Center for the Arts, the Danforth Museum, the Center for Arts in Natick and other cultural centers in the Boston area. As curator at Holliston High School’s Studio 370, she forges connections between contemporary artists and students. Working individually and with groups of all ages, she develops installations, collaborative projects and site-specific public art. Driscoll lives with her family in Holliston, MA.
Michael Frassinelli studied graphic design in college with the intention of becoming an illustrator, but while there developed a love of sculpture and installation work. Since then he has lived and taught in Nantucket, and has been a scenic designer in Berkeley, California, among other things. He currently teaches art at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA where he is also Director of the Dana Art Gallery. He lives and keeps a studio in nearby Holliston, MA with his wife Katie and twins, Bobby and Libby.
Lisa Kellner resides in New York City and rural Virginia. She received her MFA from The Art Institute of Boston in 2008. Kellner completed her undergraduate studies at Boston University and The School of Visual Arts in New York. Recently, her work was included in several group exhibitions including: Here and Now at Transformer Gallery (DC), I Dream of Genomes, at the Islip Art Museum (NY) and the Boston Young Contemporaries exhibition (MA). In addition to this exhibition, she is participating in the Fall 2008 Providence Art Windows in Providence, RI with the site-specific installation, Inner Urban Sanctum.
Yuya Shiratori is an undergraduate at Massachusetts College of Art and he has also studied at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. His work has been exhibited at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown MA, the Boston Center for the Arts and the Art Institute of Boston. Shiratori recently traveled to Thailand to study methods of bamboo construction. He is from Yokohama, Japan and currently lives in Boston.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & SPECIAL THANKS The artists of Material Meditation would like to thank: — the Exhibitions Committee at the New Art Center for giving us the opportunity to exhibit in their beautiful gallery space. — Ceci Mendez and all the New Art Center staff: Dana Berry, Cori Champagne, Mindy Gregory Seiber and Kate Wisnioski who managed the thousand details with grace and enthusiasm. — the many volunteers that helped with the opening reception, preparation and tending of the gallery.
CONTACT To Wayne, Merry and Devon who endure all my questions. Also, to family and friends, for all their support and encouragement. — JC Thanks Annie, Ben and Lois! To long summer days on the Vineyard Sound in Swish. — LC Thank you to everyone who folded envelopes with me and kept life together while I folded and tied: Tom, Jeremiah, Hannah, Pam, Becky, Karen, and Marytha. — DD Thank you to my wife Katie for supporting me through a manic summer, and to all those who donated and helped move all those pianos. — MF
Jodi Colella www.jodicolella.com Linc Cornell www.linccornell.com Denise Driscoll www.denisedriscoll.com Lisa Kellner www.lisakellner.com Michael Frassinelli www.michaelfrassinelli.net Yuya Shiratori www.yuyast.com
New Art Center www.newartcenter.org
Thanks David! — LK Thank you to all bikers in Boston! — YS Finally, the artists would like to acknowledge each other, whose vision and focused work made Material Meditation possible.
Michael Frassinelli detail of shadow cast by Pianista Observatorium 38
Published on the occasion of the exhibition: Material Meditation Curated by Denise Driscoll New Art Center September 15 — October 26, 2008 Jodi Colella Linc Cornell Denise Driscoll Michael Frassinelli Lisa Kellner Yuya Shiratori
This exhibition is mounted through the New Art Center’s Curatorial Opportunity Program and was funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
CREDITS Photography: Jodi Colella, Linc Cornell, Denise Driscoll, Lisa Kellner, Ceci Mendez Design: Denise Driscoll Copyright © 2008 the artists and the authors. All rights reserved.
front and back covers:
Yuya Shiratori detail of shadow cast by RE: Air 40