Saturday, March 22, 2014

artist statement at work......

Michele Ridgeway

Artist Statement

I  construct anecdotal narratives through video, performance art and sculpture which reveal universal themes of humanity that acknowledge that we are fleeting and changing beings.  The daily struggles, emotions, and situations of family, mothers, middle age, and home are the  text that I draw inspiration from.  The durational performances emphasize process, chance, time, endurance, and repetitive obsession to reinforce these themes.  

Through the medium of video I perform the everyday gesture that might occur in the home; icing a cake, wiping a mirror, nurturing with cooking, decorating and stitching.  The narratives conflate the line between  the practice of life and the practice of art and the domestic in terms of an aesthetic and a medium.  

My sculptural work is composed of materials in my home; icing, gingerbread, doilies, curtains, and mirrors. The mirror exists in the work as identity, stillness, a look into the now as well as reflection upon the past. The frosting sculptures speak to repetitive obsession in gesture and celebrations and are inspired by decorative elements in the home. The sewn pieces, constructed from household linens, recall stories from childhood and a desire to comfort and nurture. The objects that I make are similar to the video work in that they engage the domestic aesthetic in both size and material.  They reinforce the themes of endurance, process, and repetitive obsession in their construction. 


With this work, I depict a life that is lived through art.

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