Floating (Basket)

Comment

Comment by Leslie Pontz on December 24, 2011 at 7:21pm

thank you for your comments. they are very much right on with my own understanding of the piece. masculine and feminine elements, and push pulls are always an integral part of my work. i am often not even aware that i am doing it, but to make the piece feel finished, that tension/juxtaposition needs to be fulfilled. thank you again for taking the time to study and then comment on my work. leslie

Comment by Resident Curator on December 24, 2011 at 5:32pm

Curator’s Comment:

 

I observe a considered luxuriance in your use of monofilament, silken fibers that strike a chord against the more austere vessel structures.  These pieces are very reminiscent of Eva Hesse for me in their ying-yang dichotomy.  While a masculine versus feminine variance may not have been intentional in the selection of materials, there is nonetheless a strong visual contrast to the precariousness of the hanging fibers from a heavy iron support.  I do enjoy the gravitational surprise of the hanging wispy basket form- its tether obviously outweighing the singular object in suspension.  Floating (basket) doesn’t appear to be utilitarian, but evokes a clean garment, or figural shell.   But the detail picture reveals an internal complexity that further complicates the reading of the piece.  The delicate pod shapes are suggestive of hand tatting and lace- intricate time consuming crafts that are traditionally feminine.  But another reading could just as readily interpret the small internal vessels as biological in nature.  White bleached out anemone, or luminescent undersea jellyfish could all be gathered in loose weightless clusters.   I do have a preference for the white pieces because of their diaphanous quality.  They exhibit a clean, chaste authenticity that ironically seems unadulterated rather than produced by hand.