Sep 1, 2019
Scavengers!
This essay was written to accompany the exhibition Scavengers! at the Loft Gallery | 401 S. Mesa Street, San Pedro, CA 90731
September 5 — October 26, 2019
To care for something larger than yourself, the earth, you must to a certain extent embrace chaos. After all, so few things are within our control beyond our physical bodies and even then, we must surrender. Interesting to consider how control is deeply tethered to the idea of mastery across almost all cultures and in the pursuit of these higher levels of skill there exists a consequence that has haunted humanity, waste. Subvert this notion of mastery and you fall into a world that has existed alongside the glittering product-driven cults of consumerism. Bottles, bags and bits of paper as they are emptied and unceremoniously “tossed” have been rescued, collected and given second life.
Within the realms of “second life” there are heroes. Recycled glass incorporated into the structures of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí, the extreme whimsy of Dadaist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven who, when not walking the streets semi-nude wore elaborate clothes constructed of flattened spoons, feathers, collage and other found objects. In addition to writing and drawing, she constructed tantalizing sculpture from discarded metal pipes and was rumored to have given Duchamp the inspiration for his famous urinal. These individuals, just two examples from hundreds, are masters of another realm of existence entirely. Through ingenuity not readily supported by common ideas of mastery, they prolong the life of objects through art. Rather than consume, they sought to elevate.
Scavengers! Is a compelling exhibition featuring 5 contemporary artists working within the realms of the repurposed, creating immersive, visually arresting works of sculpture both freestanding and for the wall, that directly address the future of our world in the face of mass materialism. They are through their work expressing both a mastery of materials and a deep caring for concepts seemingly beyond their control, from weather systems to the sheer amount of plastic put into the oceans annually (around 12 million tons). There is whimsy here and a kind of wry intelligence that exists when an individual has decided to make something beautiful as an act of defiance.
A tree, a tree house, a rocket to the moon, the organic and inorganic merge perfectly in Jennifer Gunlock’s surreal structural renderings that speak to the race of man against nature, one seeking to conquer the overwhelming ambivalence of the other. Mixed media hybrids of drawing and painting, Gunlock’s work repurposes the imagery of urban development and industry, blending manmade forms into tall, elegant totems that are part tree, part tower.
Hilary Norcliffe has whimsy and whit down to a science, combining an ability to render with an interest in world-building and exploring the language of objects through sound and interactive play. Like early cave paintings, Norcliffe’s illustrations are etched across all surfaces, asking the viewer to see worth in every little thing. The unpretentiousness of her work is highly deliberate and very much an invitation to collaborate through touch.
J. Renee Tanner is a graphic artist working in the medium of the mass-produced and equally mass-discarded. Her objects are tied to the everyday necessities of cleanliness (rubber gloves), warmth (wool gloves) and comfort (leggings) that can amass the most waste in their global popularity. They are also alluringly tied to the human figure in a way that speaks to caution signs posted by road crossings and railways. She chooses the colors of caution as well, black and yellow as if cautioning the viewer to take into account their own bodies in space.
Inspired by super-sized weather systems, Katie Stubblefield’s imagery is informed by forensic photography and first-hand accounts of nature in constant flux. Her works serve as a record of the visual aftermath of weather, discarded trees, knotted rebar, concrete, mangled clothes, deconstructed architecture and disused vehicle parts, interwoven, tangled and refigured in space. These clouds of debris can take on an almost ominous tone. The artist’s passion for the forces of nature cut into the realities she invokes making her creations more a reckoning of awe than a reckoning of destruction.
Tracey Weiss creates deeply process-driven works out of recycled plastics and other cast-off materials like slide negatives, water jugs and metal clippings. Her sculptures through sheer will and artistic vision turn out as manifestations of nature, larger than life representations of plant-like forms or microbiological creatures. There is an organic elegance to the work, evidence of the extreme toil involved on transforming the base material. The resulting art nouveau-esque forms lead us to reconsider aesthetics in a “post plastic” world.
To repurpose is to give second life and these women do so through strikingly different modes. The thread that connects them is a dedication to the quality and the meticulous elevation of “common” materials in such a way that permanently connects narrative to craft. The attention level to construction is so high that one loses sight of the origins of these materials. Such is the magic and the playful call of “Scavengers!” an irony inherent in the work itself, which has been repurposed to a higher calling and gives the viewer another way to consider the connection between skill and beauty.
