After a wonderful talk featuring the artists, Julia Couzens and Ellen Van Fleet, on Thursday evening, the gallery was unlocked and we were given the privilege of viewing LUMPEN, which is currently showing in the Robert Else Gallery at Sacramento State through April 16th.
The exhibit features a work by each artist and was overall inspired by the sculptural works of Ellen Van Fleet from the seventies. The two works converse with one another in the space, and although they are quite individual, they seem to relate to one another.
Both artists use common materials and avoid any overt meaning.
Pictured below are Untitled by each artist, Couzens on the left and Van Fleet on the right, and were created for the announcement for LUMPEN.
Julia Couzens and Ellen Van Fleet, Untitled, dog hair, wire, Scotch tape, a thing, price tag, plastic and thread.
Ellen Van Fleet's contribution to the project is The Bowerbird's Sister. Van Fleet's installation is created largely by bending and weaving manzanita and was largely inspired by her works from the seventies and her recent move to another city.
Ellen Van Fleet, The Bowerbird's Sister.
The Bowerbird's Sister includes an interesting form of audience participation where observers can request the items in the basket of the installation. The artist said that she saw this aspect of her work as a way of getting rid of things she no longer wanted, but still liked. To me, this portion of the work also speaks to the things we collect in our lives. The bowerbird that Van Fleet references collects items to attract a mate and it's interesting how humans have similar objects that they keep for one reason or another and they can be found in the basket; books, phones, etc. The Bowerbird's Sister is beautifully crafted and it has a sweeping kind of movement to it that makes it feel alive.
Ellen Van Fleet, Detail of The Bowerbird's Sister.
Julia Couzens' contribution to the work is the yet unfinished Standing on the Feet of Pistoletto, Memory Conspires to Mobilize a Blanket of Dreams. Her work is a messy, convoluted, fascinating configuration of textiles and objects on a bed-like form, with a fencing wire grid standing up from the surface. I am fascinated by how the objects seem to be climbing, clambering up the fencing wire, like it's a latter to some greater consciousness.
Julia Couzens, Standing on the Feet of Pistoletto, Memory Conspires to Mobilize a Blanket of Dreams.
The "feet" the bed sits on are cloth-covered stacked bricks influenced by Michelangelo Pistoletto. They seem to hold a special kind of weight, not just on the bottom of the piece, but in the way the orange bricks are tied to (anchoring or climbing?) the wire fencing. When looking at each piece of Couzens' installation, I start to feel like all of the rope and string are not so much tied and anchored, but pulling the pieces together. I will be interested to see how this installation evolves and to see how it reveals itself to the artist.
Julia Couzens, Details of Standing on the Feet of Pistoletto,
Memory Conspires to Mobilize a Blanket of Dreams.
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