Featured Artist
Lisa Reynolds
In
"Eco Chamber"
Eco Chamber
by
Pete Milosovich © 2011
The organic creations of Lisa Reynolds confound the notion of illusion or representation, while the materials used to represent an object or idea become just as important as the object itself. Beeswax, resin, bony disks from fish vertebrae, wood and patterns with congealed boundaries deny what lies at the heart of classicism, the insufferable bane of sentient existence…perfection. Crossing all symbolic avenues, yet profoundly ideal because it relies on the projection of specific lives as somehow eternally significant. Yet even the seemingly eternal come to an end; stars burn out and die transforming into red giants, followed by the inevitable implosion that yields a white dwarf or the improbable black hole. Such force, however, pales in comparison to the impervious perfection of the soul. This longing for eternal significance while the majority simply struggle to survive becomes the question resolved or ignored at death.
Torn apart at the seams, fractured, compartmentalized, reduced to consumer products the notion of Mother Nature has become rendered mute in the face of rampant exploitation, and the inevitable transformation that so much human impact will eventually reveal. Yet the concept of Mother Nature persists despite the infinite altercations she must continue to endure. Perhaps the rigorous deniers of Earth’s transformation simply will not accept the possibility of distortion. This revered symbol must continue to endure like the concept of the soul at the core of widespread religious beliefs. Contradictions simply cannot be allowed, or the entire system becomes suspect to collapse.
In Ms. Reynolds transformative world the soul that we are allowed to peer into reveals a fish vertebra as its source. Organic components of a broader system signifies a tangible connection to the world at large, a macrocosm composed of interchangeable parts that denies the desire of mankind to distance itself from the literal grime of mother natures loving embrace. Installation Art sculpted and blurred through globs of molded beeswax denies the tidy retreat from a hostile, indifferent world to the eternal perfection of the soul where reflections of mankind become projections of perfection.
Ms. Reynolds has little use for the 'ideal' in representation, unless perhaps the ‘ideal’ resides in the natural components that make up the whole. To wield and construct the symbols of Ms. Reynold’s world means we must get our hands dirty, that Mother Nature will yield to a finite amount of distress until she becomes something entirely different, when her ‘soul’ collapses and perhaps the eerie landscape of a dead planet remains. Yet despite speculation people cling to the infinite nature of the soul as the symbol of eternal reward beckoning them through deaths doorstep.
The unending desire to revel in this sense of purity springs from such notions as manifest destiny; American exceptionalism allows power brokers to justify what they will, what they can exploit, and within a broader religious framework legitimize every action. This inherent cultural component projects the need for distance from the mundane interactions that defend existence. Yet no matter how many ‘soothsayers’ proclaim the inevitability of the soul, Ms. Reynolds reminds us that we draw our strength from the natural life lines that bind us to earth’s eternal embrace. None of us can escape what we are inexplicably linked to since before birth, endless rhythms of DNA strands. Still, so many maintain the illusion of distinction, and perhaps superiority in order to rest without the fear of the inevitable…death and disembodiment.
Peering into the magnificent torso of Look Inside impacted and transformed by rough organic matter, Ms. Reynolds removes symbolic distinctions that set humanity apart from the indifferent world all of us inhabit. Interwoven components too numerous to count represent a world continuously impacted by humankind, and reminds us that the inevitability of change becomes transformative. The ground we stand on shifts, and perhaps the soul remains the end result of a process rooted in organic growth, and not the concept of a pristine heavenly body above detached from the soil we all share…
by
Pete Milosovich © 2011
The organic creations of Lisa Reynolds confound the notion of illusion or representation, while the materials used to represent an object or idea become just as important as the object itself. Beeswax, resin, bony disks from fish vertebrae, wood and patterns with congealed boundaries deny what lies at the heart of classicism, the insufferable bane of sentient existence…perfection. Crossing all symbolic avenues, yet profoundly ideal because it relies on the projection of specific lives as somehow eternally significant. Yet even the seemingly eternal come to an end; stars burn out and die transforming into red giants, followed by the inevitable implosion that yields a white dwarf or the improbable black hole. Such force, however, pales in comparison to the impervious perfection of the soul. This longing for eternal significance while the majority simply struggle to survive becomes the question resolved or ignored at death.
Torn apart at the seams, fractured, compartmentalized, reduced to consumer products the notion of Mother Nature has become rendered mute in the face of rampant exploitation, and the inevitable transformation that so much human impact will eventually reveal. Yet the concept of Mother Nature persists despite the infinite altercations she must continue to endure. Perhaps the rigorous deniers of Earth’s transformation simply will not accept the possibility of distortion. This revered symbol must continue to endure like the concept of the soul at the core of widespread religious beliefs. Contradictions simply cannot be allowed, or the entire system becomes suspect to collapse.
In Ms. Reynolds transformative world the soul that we are allowed to peer into reveals a fish vertebra as its source. Organic components of a broader system signifies a tangible connection to the world at large, a macrocosm composed of interchangeable parts that denies the desire of mankind to distance itself from the literal grime of mother natures loving embrace. Installation Art sculpted and blurred through globs of molded beeswax denies the tidy retreat from a hostile, indifferent world to the eternal perfection of the soul where reflections of mankind become projections of perfection.
Ms. Reynolds has little use for the 'ideal' in representation, unless perhaps the ‘ideal’ resides in the natural components that make up the whole. To wield and construct the symbols of Ms. Reynold’s world means we must get our hands dirty, that Mother Nature will yield to a finite amount of distress until she becomes something entirely different, when her ‘soul’ collapses and perhaps the eerie landscape of a dead planet remains. Yet despite speculation people cling to the infinite nature of the soul as the symbol of eternal reward beckoning them through deaths doorstep.
The unending desire to revel in this sense of purity springs from such notions as manifest destiny; American exceptionalism allows power brokers to justify what they will, what they can exploit, and within a broader religious framework legitimize every action. This inherent cultural component projects the need for distance from the mundane interactions that defend existence. Yet no matter how many ‘soothsayers’ proclaim the inevitability of the soul, Ms. Reynolds reminds us that we draw our strength from the natural life lines that bind us to earth’s eternal embrace. None of us can escape what we are inexplicably linked to since before birth, endless rhythms of DNA strands. Still, so many maintain the illusion of distinction, and perhaps superiority in order to rest without the fear of the inevitable…death and disembodiment.
Peering into the magnificent torso of Look Inside impacted and transformed by rough organic matter, Ms. Reynolds removes symbolic distinctions that set humanity apart from the indifferent world all of us inhabit. Interwoven components too numerous to count represent a world continuously impacted by humankind, and reminds us that the inevitability of change becomes transformative. The ground we stand on shifts, and perhaps the soul remains the end result of a process rooted in organic growth, and not the concept of a pristine heavenly body above detached from the soil we all share…