User:Am,gut/sandbox

Lead[edit]

Sarah Sze (/ˈziː/; born 1969) is an American artist and professor of visual arts at Columbia University. Sze's work explores the role of technology, information, and memory with objects in contemporary life through the utilization of everyday materials. Drawing from Modernist traditions, Sze confronts the relationship of low value mass produced objects in high value institutions, creating the sense that everyday life though objects can be art. She has exhibited internationally and her works are in the collections of several major museums.

Process[edit]

Sze draws from Modernist traditions of the found object, to build large scale installations. She uses everyday items like string, Q-tips, photographs, and wire to create complex interconnecting compositions resembling constellations. This gives her work a chaotic yet precise feeling with the overlap of materials still in line with the perspective she is working with. All objects regardless of size are related to one another, creating a bigger environment in her work with all of the pieces coming together to convey a message. By all of these mass produced objects originally having no relation to one another, this allows for the Sze to mold and shape these objects, changing their meaning and function. Through the incorporation of these "low value" objects reject the traditional standards that sculptures have to be solid, limited in geometric shapes, and work with specific materials. This can be displayed with Sze's intentional inclusion of the unseen process materials (ladders, clips, wooden poles, etc.) being included in her final work. "challenge the very material of sculpture, the very constitution of sculpture, as a solid form that has to do with finite geometric constitutions, shapes, and content." whose forms change with the viewer's interaction.

Sze's throughout her career has pushed the boundaries with sculpture can also be seen with her wanting her works to convey movement. Through precise planning and strategic considerations, Sze strives to make the inanimate look animate. Through influences with her formal training in painting and architecture, Sze looks into what one can do with a sculpture that is limiting. This infuses her influences with the two dimensional and seeing what can be transferred refined or added in the everyday three-dimensional.

Sze additionally takes into consideration the viewer and their interaction with her works and objects she had chosen to display. When selecting materials, Sze focuses on the exploration of value acquisition–what value the object holds and how it is acquired. This consideration can be seen with her conceptualization process with how the viewer will first encounter the piece and how to pace and establish the narrative as they walk through her works.

In an interview with curator Okwui Enwezor, Sze explained that during her conceptualization process, she will "choreograph the experience to create an ebb and flow of information [...] thinking about how people approach, slow down, stop, perceive [her art]."

significance

Sze's work encapsulates how an individual perceives the everyday life and their environment. The recording of object with memory is one of the ways Sze represents this idea. In her works like Timekeeper, Sze Creates a time capsule, allowing her to directly connect with the objects she utilized with the piece to the year. With Sze reconstructing former works, she has the record of what she originally used but now can add new materials, creating an entirely new time capsule. Time itself is a strong theme Sze plays into with the concept of the multiplicity of the unknown. This is created by her works veering off the canvas in multiple directions leads to this theme of the plurality of the unknown. Time and memory in Sze's work can also be seen with the distortion of images throughout time. Sze in her print installations has referenced prior works, relying on memory to reconstruct the former work in her current project. This not only reflects her prior work but also highlights how objects change over time in memory. Sze goes into additional detail about pictures and how this method can be used to retain a sculpture. Sze choice of materials is one of the key factors when taking in her works. The inclusion of these mass-produced objects additionally alludes to domestic life and the feeling of overabundance and growth. Having these daily objects collected, layered, or stacked on one another can be seen into her conveying an overwhelming or cramped space.

By working with sculpture, Sze is conscious of the space not only her work is located in but the space her works create. With Sze's spherical work, this creates the opportunity for viewers to walk inside the work, creating an immersive experience. This choice is done whether or not the audience is aware when they enter the work they are part of the work or not. With Sze background and upbringing with architecture, she is methodical on how visitors will encounter her work and how a gallery space will shape and form her work. This consideration deepens Sze contemplation if there is a history to tell with the architecture or is it there to guide the audience. The space Sze creates in her works reflects her choice of objects, creating a relationship with her work and the location where they intertwine. Within the space Sze creates especially with her suspending installation works, there is a feeling with these works of fragility to them. Yet through the deliberate process with aligning every object to one anther, there is a strategic method to its fragility look.

With works located in the natural environment, Sze as well takes into consideration the context where her work will reside in. This can be seen with what she wants her works to not only convey but be of value. With her Storm King Art Center permanent commission Fallen Sky, creates the infusion and disintegration of the extra-terrestrial material to become one with the ground. Other of her outside installations like Still Life with Landscape takes into consideration the natural habitat and including those needs with the structure, creating a seamless interconnection with the works composition.