Meg Madison: thirst comes glistening out of the water
- Opening Reception: Saturday, September 19, 6:00 to 9:00 pm
- Panel Discussion: “Photo chat: without a camera”, Saturday, October 3, 3:00-5:00 pm
- Closing Reception: Saturday, October 10, 4:00-6:00 pm
- Exhibition Dates: September 19 – October 10, 2015
Groundspace Project is pleased to invite you to Meg Madison’s solo exhibition, ‘thirst comes glistening out of the water’, opening on Saturday, September 19, 6:00 to 9:00 pm.
Madison’s solo exhibition consists of a series of cyanotype photograms made at water locations at the Los Angeles river, and Santa Monica and San Francisco bays. She describes the work as, “The elements of paper, water, wind, sunlight, the form of a human body and photo emulsion creates a brilliant blue print that captures the collision of materials.” A good starting point for engaging Madison’s work which evokes a complexity of figure/ground/water poetics in her powerfully beautiful art objects.
Artist’s Statement:
“Suddenly the first Thirst comes glistening out of the water, the first Adoration comes back, such a Thirst was only know in paradise, coming out dripping wet, Passion recovered, a Thirst as exciting as love, holding up both palms full of water;” – Hélène Cixous, Limonade tout était si infini 1982
The work starts with water, the earth, and the body’s connection to both. Dispelling the notion that water comes from the tap, it is important to go a natural site of water. The water is a material of the artwork, – it is what will change the iron salt potassium ferricyanide solution, after exposure to sunlight, into a brilliant blue and white print. The water becomes a part of the chemical compound on the paper, once dried the residue of the LA River, or salt of the Pacific Ocean remain on the paper. It is part of what makes the chemical change and it is what remains.
Inspired by the earlier civilization that revered elders, I bring an elder to the natural site. At the water’s edge they lay their body on sheets of paper that have been coated with the chemical solution. The body lies without movement as the sun exposes the paper with the outline of the body. Sometimes the wind moves the paper, or moves something that is on the paper – a piece of clothing, hair, some part of the surrounding earth that I have placed on the paper.
Depending on the sun’s position in the sky, after two to six minutes, I take the pieces of paper and develop them in the nearby water. Once in the water, the wind, the waves, or the current move the paper causing marks of distress, crimps, folds, scratches and algae stains.
The resulting blue image on heavy water color paper is a remnant of the collision of the human body, the water, the sun, the iron salt potassium elements and the wind. The resulting blue image is an evidence of a physical interaction yet has the implication of the mysterious dimension where body meets the soul.
August 2015
Groundspace Project is an alternative exhibition space located in downtown Los Angeles.
- Gallery hours are Friday and Saturday, 1 to 6 pm.
- 1427 E. 4th St. #4, Los Angeles, CA 90033
- 310 614-3351
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