Sandra bleifer apr 2019 (7 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Beginning in the 1980s artist Sandy Bleifer's work became more sculptural and much of it emulated metal surfaces. In a desire to explore working directly with metal, she learned how to weld and found herself drawn to scraps of metal. Using them as a support and as a foil to her work in paper led to the Metal / Drawing series.The metal selected was neither new nor perfect, but battered and weather beaten. The paper used was newsprint - an extremely unstable paper. This work was produced during a very traumatic life experience prompting the artist to use her own blood on some of the drawings as a painting material. In a very short period of time, the blood completely disappeared, just as the pain of those days eventually went away. The Metal / Drawings juxtapose the inherent qualities of metal and paper: hardness v. softness, strength v. vulnerability. The drawings, which are on newsprint, darkens and becomes even more brittle over time. Burning the paper to produce ash adds to its fragility. Nevertheless, the drawings cling to their metal supports while the metal continues to rust at a slow pace. Rusted metal is a recurrent foil to the qualities of paper in Bleifer's ongoing work. Metal salvaged from a fellow artist's studio fire is also juxtaposed with paper in several sculptural works.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The figure in flight conjures up a familiar female archetype - an angel - an arbiter between human suffering and transcendence. The use of the female figure - long a staple of Western artistic iconography - may be interpreted in a contemporary context of women's issues or as a matriarchal figure embodying the world's suffering. The 'Shrine of the Angels' series utilizes color photo Xerox printouts of the source image for the Angels, several incorporating a lighting element and on a scale that can collectively be installed as a shrine.These life-size female figures gesturing upward in supplication depict a range of human injuries that we endure. They have taken on a religious connotation when installed in churches and function as transcendence and closure in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Project when the artist has included them in that project.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The folding screen format in Sandy Bleifer's art is a means of representing Time and Space in a static medium.The folds encompass space and add a greater three-dimensionality to textured surfaces. Folding also enables the work to stand independently as sculptural objects. This enhances the 'realism' of images such as mountains and clouds.The folding screen, as an articulated surface for an image, calls upon the viewer to experience the image linearly, rather than simultaneously as one does in confronting a painting in the conventional rectangular format. This approximates the experience of viewing dance or theater as well as music as a revelation of evolving meaning. Reading left to right, the viewer enters a work in the screen format by coming in at the beginning - at a seminal idea - and experiences a progression in the time it takes to move along to the right. The screen format also enables the representation of the passage of time on a given subject (e.g. gradual change of lighting from day to night) and a sequence of juxtapositions of images on facing pages.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Self portraits and body casts of dancers/costumes in handmade paper. These works are part of a long tradition of portraiture, artist self portraits and death masks in art history.The 'life casts' of the artists' face and body merge self-portraiture and gestural use of sheets of paper with the figure exerting its presence. The 'Circus Costumes' were commissioned for a dance performance at Santa Monica College in 1989. The cast paper sculptures were Velcroed to the leotards of the dancers and serve as extensions of their bodies into portions of their costumes. They become metaphors for the dichotomy between our jobs/functions and our inner lives. At the end of the performance, the dancers remove their costumes, exerting their independence from the demands on their lives.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The several Southwest series express the recognition that the landscape of various regions embody infinite combinations of basic rock formations and colorations and, as such, share the nature of the printed multiple as individualized by printing and after-treatments. Subjecting the prints to the forces of nature and chemical and mechanical degradation mimics the forces of nature on the landscape.During several camping trips to parts of the American Southwest, Bleifer observed that in a given locale there are pervasive similarities of colors, shapes, and textures due to common geological origins, such as the basic common soil type and the landscape being subjected to localized natural forces that affect its appearance (wind, water, chemicals, temperature, and the movement of the earth's crust). The silkscreen medium lends itself to expressing the commonalities of a landscape by multiple printings through the same screen using the same colors. The artist expresses this common matrix by printing the horizontal strata of the landscape using the 'split fountain' technique. But within a given region there is a range of coloration, surface textures, and shapes. The artist employed art processes to the basic printed image, comparable to those that act on the landscape, in order to produce variables within multiples: crushing and wrinkling the paper like mountain ranges are subjected to tectonic forces, soaking the paper and exposing it to the sun for several months mimicking the action of the elements on landscapes. By dripping chemicals, such as paint thinner and acetone, Bleifer simulates how lime leaches out to dissolve rock and discolor it. In scrubbing these chemicals into the ink, under layers are exposed. Scraping and gouging the surface and using a rotary sander replicated how wind drives sand across rock. Finally, marking the prints with charcoal and chalk uses the same natural materials that mark the landscape. Once the printed page had undergone the process of individualization, further variation is achieved by cutting, tearing, layering, and composing resulting in a range of unique works.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The Walls series utilizes paper as an expression of the urban environment. The Walls and Graffiti series explore connections between the artist's vocabulary of paper manipulation and treatment techniques and the nature of architectural elements. Handmade paper, art papers and silkscreen collages express the nature of a wide variety of surfaces and bear the effect of age and wear. As such, the Walls testify to the vulnerability as well as the resilience of life itself.The Walls evolved from low relief collages to highly textured multiple layers, both obscuring and revealing what lies beneath.Paper is often thought to be extremely fragile, yet when put to 'distress testing' by artist Sandy Bleifer, it proves resiliant and quite beautiful for having withstood soak in water, fire, abrassion and other forms of 'abuse.' And, also quite beautiful in this condition.Paper as a wrapping material enables these works to project a sense of mystery and surprises from a hidden history. Each wall expresses a mood or personality depending upon its 'life experiences.'Paper is uniquely structured to express the nature of a wide variety of surfaces and to bear the effects of age and wear. The Walls and Grafitti series became metaphors for the chemical and mechanical forces working against our efforts to protect ourselves within buildings. Their resistance to destruction reflects our own determination to survive the forces of nature.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The artist takes on topics such as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Holocaust, mass migration, the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Trump era and the revitalization of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Bleifer's work has always been concerned about destructive forces: man's inhumanity to man, the destructive forces of nature, the active role of human civilization as it impacts the environment and the increasing polarization of society. Since her primary medium has been paper - not only as the surface for imagery, but as a painting and sculpting material - She has developed many techniques that degrade the paper and express destructive forces at work. While throughout her life she has been involved with family and community work, she has shifted her focus to global humanitarian and environmental affairs. Recent work has her becoming more of an activist than a studio artist - sometimes supported by art works and sometimes projecting a vision in social situations. Sandy Bleifer uses paper and figurative imagery to evoke social and political issues. Her work engages the audience via interactions with freestanding and wall hung sculptural installations. Her intention has been to bring about far reaching social change by further involving the viewer/participant through adjunct programming as well as contemplation of the artwork. Using photographic documentation, she traversed the world of urban redevelopment to preserve neighborhoods and architectural features of historical and cultural significance.…