Exhibition Information

Lindsey Glover and Claudia Sbrissa: Topographies
March 2-April 10, 2015

A “topography” is the physical arrangement of the organic and artificial elements in a material environment. The Dowd Gallery is pleased to present Topographies, an exhibition in which artists Lindsey Glover and Claudia Sbrissa investigate, deconstruct and expand upon natural and built facets of the landscape, each with her own approach.   

Lindsey Glover, based in Ithaca, NY, created the Glacial Lake video installation and Cumulus print series from chemical stains that developed on expired Polaroid film after being exposed to light.  Likenesses of luminous icebergs and clouds emerge from intricate layers of these irregular marks.  The Satellite print series evolved from photo fragments of moss and lichen, which she reconfigured into black and white, circular and nuanced terrains.  Her Floating Fields light boxes feature the facades and interior spaces of greenhouse structures, which were printed as separate entities and fused back together again, creating dimension within a flat plane. 

Glover states, “Our experiences are made up of a multitude of images, constructing an expanding memory bank that helps us understand our world and derive meaning. My work explores the image fragments that are oftentimes disregarded or seemingly lost.  I collect these brief incidents and distort them in the creation of new images.”

Claudia Sbrissa lives and works in New York City.  Her Habitat:  The Fabric Works series alludes to both the natural world and the architecture, infrastructure and history of place.  These fabric drawings, paper weavings and small woven sculptures were created from found fabric remnants she collected during a recent year of travel throughout Italy and South America.  Vestiges of their former existence, these scampoli, or scraps, were reworked and reimagined through a variety of hand processes, such as stitching, weaving and drawing.  “Growing up with my grandparents, a seamstress and a carpenter,” the artist recalls, “I learned practical skills along with a joy of handwork.  Remnants of fabric and off cuts of wood were used and reused, salvaged by the process of transformation.”

Mount of the Horizon, a site-specific installation, transforms the contours of the main gallery space with hundreds of yards of crocheted and dyed rope, cord and yarn.  The material, arranged in great heaps, recalls topographical maps and landscapes both real and imagined.  Sbrissa is interested in the poetics of construction and the use of abstraction as a language to reflect on place and space.

Images

Left:  Claudia Sbrissa, Thread Lines (detail), 2014, fabric remnants on paper, 11.5 x 11.5 in.

Right:  Lindsey Glover, Glacial Lake (detail), 2015, three-channel video and sound installation, dimensions variable 

Lindsey Glover Artist's Talk Video, March 10, 2014

Claudia Sbrissa Artist's Talk Video, March 25, 2014