VENESSA GROMEK : THE SUBLIME IS LIGHT AND EASY TO ASSEMBLE
UTAH MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, SALT LAKE CITY, UT
JANUARY 5 - APRIL 15, 2013
Drawing on notions of the sublime in both nature and design, Gromek’s “Tents” series addresses the intersection of the outdoor industry with the aesthetics of modern sculpture. Gromek reorients the purpose of a portable shelter by complicating its basic function, as these forms are neither enterable nor protective. Rather these porous and impenetrable structures elicit ideas revolving around abstraction, experimentation, and materiality, providing an innovative way to conceptualize how the great outdoors can influence contemporary art practice.
“Tent design has advanced drastically in the outdoor industry—what used to be tepees and simple triangular forms are now turning into complex shapes that are pushing the boundaries of the materials used,” said artist Venessa Gromek. “By creating sculptures constructed of tent poles and lace, I am countering the traditionally heavy and masculine sculpture seen in art history,” Gromek added. “Each sculpture’s inherent relationship to a tent contextualizes them with landscape issues, while their form with issues related to modern sculpture; all of which are focused on providing a level of the sublime to the viewer.”
Not only do these sculptures conflate the line between utility and creativity, but also between masculinity and femininity. The stretchy lace fabric, smooth curvy lines, and delicate weightlessness of these tents challenge the density and rough geometric forms often seen in modernist sculpture and design. In this way, Gromek continues in the vein of a nonfigurative style that is reminiscent of twentieth-century artistic production, yet her sculptures also harken back to the dichotomy between craft and fine art. Stitched pieces of colorful fabric stretched across bending metal poles confuse the seemingly opposing contrast of needlework and workmanship, which is also a defining element of the artist’s work.
“Gromek invites new ways of imagining spatial relations that intersect histories of radical architecture with Unabomber couture,” said Aaron Moulton, senior curator at UMOCA. “Confusing heavy-metal formalism and the ability to pick up and go, these deceptive forms detach a viewer from any sense of easy assembly or protection leaving a poignant address of our own fragility in the landscape.”
Photo credit : Morganne Wakefield
