beauty in the Strange SERIES: ARTIST'S Statements

Dreaming of Symbiosis: The Drifting Spores was created for the January, 2018 production of the Southern Exposure New Music Series.   By invitation only, artists are challenged to create brand new work in response to the evening's scheduled program. Dreaming of Symbiosis: The Drifting Spores was directly inspired by  'Alma Alma' (Dream) from Síppal, Dobbal, Nádihegedűvel by György Ligeti (on poems by Sándor Weöres).

A note about Southern Exposure:

Award winning Southern Exposure is an event held at the University of  South Carolina School of Music. Consisting of four concert events per  year, experimental musicians from around the globe are invited to  perform and a local visual artist is curated by Sara Winsted to create  new work inspired by the scheduled selection of music. The January 2018  event featured musicians Duo Cortona (Rachal Calloway, mezzo-soprano and  Ari Streisfeld, violin). This piece was a part of that event and the  information below relates to the particular composition used to create  it.  

Artist's Statement:    

" 'Alma Alma' has a somnolent quality which fits well with the lyrics about a swaying, sleepy apple. But I knew I didn't want to illustrate this piece in a literal way using representations of actual apples. Instead, I started with memories from my childhood when many of my daylight hours were spent exploring the local woodlands. I recalled how much of that time was organized around quietly and deeply looking at the details around me. One memory I have is of being fascinated by red-orange spheres that would seem to grow on tree trunks I often visited. I had no idea what they were called, but because of this memory I did some research and learned that it was sometimes called Wolf's Milk. It turned out to be a type of slime mold. That became the centerpiece for the work.

In many of these Shadowbox Anomalous pieces I am interested in breaking the surface of the canvas, either inward, which was the origin of the shadowbox theme, or outward. This piece breaks inwards with the Wolf's Milk and another fungal form emerging from that new space. The colors and texture of the main part of the canvas represents the forest floor after a summer rain at the moment the sun begins to shine through the clouds again.

Fifth movement:  Alma Alma [Tizenkettedik Szimfonia]  ( Dream [Twelfth Symphony] )

Poem by Sándor Weöres.

(Hungarian)

alma agon

alma ring az agon

alma ring a

lombos agon

ring a ring a

barna agon

ringva

ringa-ringatozva

inga

hinta

palinta

alma alma

elme alma alma

almodj alszol?

mozdulatlan lengedezve

hus szelben arnyban

alom agon

agak alma

ringva

ringa-ringatozva

ingadozva

imbolyogva

itt egyhelyben elhajozik

indiaba afrikaba holdvilagba

almodj

alma alszol? 

(translation)

An apple on the branch

an apple swings on the branch

an apple swings

on the leafy branch

swings-swings

on the brown branch

swinging

rocking

pendulum

swing (hinta)

palinta

a dream of an apple

the mind's dream an apple

dream dream?

motionlessly swinging

in the cool wind in the shadows

dream

on the branch

dream of the branches

swinging

rocking

swaying

staying in this spot it casts off

to India to Africa to the moonlight

dream

-apple, are you sleeping? 

Ghost 

This is a bit of a crossover piece in that includes an aquatic beetle from the Bioforms Series. It is also an experiment with light. I wanted it to  keep the color a minimal white in this, but added a pigment called Blue Lit created by fellow artist and Stuart Semple of Culture Hustle to highlight some features. Blue Lit is a glow in the dark custom mixed pigment that radiates an intense blue light in the dark when charged with a lamp or under the sun.

Something I have always had an appreciation for is how much life in the natural world is bioluminescent... a trick of chemical magic! From fireflies to sea creatures to some variations of woodland fungus and more - to see such beauty in the darkness is to experience a sense of sudden awe of the greater universe.

I can't be sure how long the glow quality will last from the Blue Lit but with research it seems that this piece will last longer in this form if kept in the dark until it is ready for viewing. I am currently building a cover box to help with that, which is why I consider this to be an experimental piece and will be difficult to publicly exhibit. Personally, though, I consider it to be one of my most magical pieces that I hope to one day share with more eyes and hearts than just my own.

Nestlings was originally created in the hopes that it would be accepted into the South Carolina State Museum's 30th Anniversary Art Show featuring artists from all over SC though it was not juried in. 

With this piece, I am continuing to explore the ideas of releasing the burdens of unnecessary fear. In this case, the fear of spiders and insects. Though many have feelings of panic when they encounter these tiny creatures, and react with a desire to smash, salt and burn, the truth is that most are harmless to humans and only want to go about their short fragile lives in their tiny worlds.

Small life is everywhere and humans will encounter them often, so with exposure therapy and the willingness to work at it, most people should be able to shake off those bonds of instinctive terror. When I have conversations on this subject, so many mention the legs. There are too many of them. They have too many joints. And they skitter strangely. It feels so alien. 

They also fear nests. They fear the idea that masses of these alien legs attached to alien bodies with glassy, alien eyes will burst out of hidden nests and swarm them when they are at their most vulnerable. When they are asleep. When they are showering. When they are voiding.

In Nestlings, there is the opportunity to look at some of the elements they fear with the full knowledge that those elements will not move. They are simply clay and wire and paint and canvas. Completely harmless. The viewer can take their time looking and thinking and wondering. 

It begins with observation. With observation, curiosity develops. With the addition of research, there is knowledge. With knowledge, empathy develops. Over time, fear is replaced with acceptance and understanding.

At least that is always my hope.

Juror's Notes from Showcases:   

Ed Rice: "Could be an under-water scene, nature, growing organic, fabulous colors you might see in coral or flowers; nature can be beautiful, powerful, and menacing, I like the variety of deep colors. The piece is a good evocation of nature."

The Quiet Empire is a reflection of woodland fungus that I began exploring in earlier pieces. When I was young it was not unusual for me to sit quietly and observe the living textures of the forest. As an adult, I have learned that these life forms are much more fascinating than most realize. For example, there's an Armillaria Ostoyae in our world that is around 2,384 acres in size and which could be as old as 8,650 years. How interesting is that?

With this work of art, I simply enjoyed the exploration of this "strange beauty" by creating clay versions from my imagination inspired by memories from my childhood, with a dash of extra color. Though I am fully engaging my artistic license in those choices, I wanted the result to bring feelings of pleasure to the viewer rather than disgust at the idea of fungus.

I named it The Quiet Empire based on the idea that this life exists in its own cities under our feet - silent and seemingly still - yet all around us. An empire of life we don't always notice. 

Woodland fungus is often associated with the mythologies of Sidhe... the Fey Folk of Celtic lore. As a Celt myself, I enjoyed weaving these ideas into the piece as well, in the sense that there is another secret empire of otherness.

Juror's Notes from Showcases:   

Dorothy Netherland: "The inventiveness of this piece amazed and delighted me. The creative process and the use of media, as well as the craftsmanship and composition, are so well done. There is a real engagement with the materials here, with plenty of space for this work to evolve even further over time. That's a good place to be as an artist. I would love to see more of these with different colors, shapes, sizes and placement, and on different scales. This piece makes me think about so much possible content - the repetitive shapes could reference floral, underwater, otherworldly, mutating, or purely imaginative forms. For me they evoke potentially contradicting forces; possibly nature reclaiming the world, or disease, or the beauty of a utopian landscape, or as a metaphor for adaptation and inevitable change, among other things. They look both beautiful and unsettling, and I love the way they extend out of the space, as well as the choice of placement of color and form."

Sidhe Ring is an exploration of one of my favorite subjects: mythology. In this case, Celtic mythologies surrounding the idea of the Lands of the Fey. The Other Folk. The Good Neighbors. The People of the Mounds.

The Sidhe (pronounced as shee).

Fungal growth in old forests have long been associated with those who live on the other side of the Veil. And there are many gateways. Dolmens and Standing Stones and Mounds and ancient single Hawthorns standing proud in otherwise empty fields. Fairy Rings of fungal growth are among these.

It is said that crossing through one of these gateways leads to the Fairy Lands, but that is never a wise thing to do. True, it is possible that you might spend a glorious evening feasting and dancing with an ancient and beautiful people. But if you should return to the mortal world the next morning, you may find that time has moved differently. A century may have passed in the that single Feast Night. All that you knew would be gone to dust.

Still, the child that I once was would have likely stepped through with only the briefest hesitation. In honesty, the child that I was would likely have never returned.

Sidhe Ring is my attempt to represent such mystical legends in ordinary clay and paint.

Juror's Notes from Showcases:   

Wim Roefs: "Frankie Wolf's Sidhe Ring is not just dizzying, although it is that, but also inventive and different; that has merit."

For Cascade, I wanted to work out a way to create a small fungi garden growing out of an open frame. I was originally drawn to the problem solving aspect of the art, spending a series of days building a structure in my mind that would support the illusion of the fantastical version of the woodland fungi I've been featuring for several years now growing from an open frame with actual wall space peeking through from behind - while also keeping the back of the piece neat as I tend to like. 

I often enjoy this "puzzle solving" aspect of art creation as much as the more straightforward and traditional art process.  

As for the ever present "story" behind most of my art, in this case in my mind, I saw a homeowner finding a tiny patch of colorful woodland fungi growing on their wall. Thinking it beautiful, they then "framed" the fungi. Very quickly, the fungi began to grow over the frame too, resisting the human need to bind, define and confine. As life often does, the way is found to continue sending genetic material into the future in wildly unpredictable ways.  

Included in the work, a small denizen who has evolved to perfectly blend in to this tiny fungal forest occasionally steps out onto a balcony of blue branches to stretch its wings, and with curiosity, survey the human world nearby.