Amy Sillman is a contemporary visual artist, professor, and author. I am reading her new book Faux Pas. In her chapter Further Notes on Shapes. Sillman says everything in the world is a shape – and shapes are how you make distinctions. She adds: everyone has two shapes – one is your body that you can’t get out of, and the other is your shadow that you can’t get rid of. Your shadow is your own flat echo. They go wherever you go. She adds: shapes are essential to modern art.
Sillman (American, born 1955) is also known for her drawings, cartoons, collage, iPhone video and zines. Here is a link to the zine she created in collaboration with MoMA for the exhibition The Shape of Shape (2019, the Museum of Modern Art, NY). Please take a look.
The image above is my collage titled Echo Chamber, collage, acrylic and papers on panel, 12×12 inches (framed: 14×14 inches), created in Fall 2020. The shapes overlap and bump into each other. Echo Chamber was included in the 30thanniversary exhibition at Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY (February 17-April 11, 2021) and sold to a collector.
The image above is titled Echo Shadow and was a commissioned work. It’s also 12×12 inch collage on panel (framed: 14×14 inches) and was created in 2020. The Echo Shadow image is facing left instead of right, and the painted papers are more blue. The earlier Echo Chamber image faces right and the colors are more blue/black..The later Echo Shadow image faces left and the colors are stronger blue. After I read Amy Sillman’s chapter on shapes, I noticed how many of my shapes had shadows –the pieces I add to create layered texture and edges. I think my shapes tell a story about sharing space. Sometimes it’s a crowded space. Are we good neighbors? Maybe Echo is a self-portrait.
Chaos AI 3 was accepted into the 2021 ArtsWestchester (White Plains, NY) juried exhibition titled Together ApART. The exhibition will be open to the public in May. I submitted more than one Chaos AI collage for this juried exhibition. I think #3 was accepted because there are figures on the left facing to the right, and one figure on the right facing to the left – separate and apart. Depending on whether you are standing in front or in back of the group, you see them facing in different directions. If you change your position, they will change their positions. There’s a new color: bright, acid green and more bright blue. I wanted to create a lighter, brighter color palette. We need to feel lighter and brighter.
I have fun with titles, and make no excuses. I express chaos with shapes, playing with connections and juxtaposition. I have no strong feelings about Artificial Intelligence, but always pause when I notice how algorhythyms seem to get smarter and anticipate what I need. What do you think? I welcome your comments.