by Claire Cushman (MFA 2015)
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| Ruptured Slab: hydrocal, spray paint transfer, dry pigment, calcite geode (2015) |
Soon after, Sarah and I met for coffee. She told me all about her Academy experience, and helped me select images for my
application. A few months later, when I was accepted to the school, she was very encouraging. Thankfully we've stayed in touch, and Sarah has been a kind and helpful mentor throughout my entire Academy
experience.
This fall, when I was
beginning to delve into abstraction, Sarah recommended I get a little crazy
with my materials and media. “Use the most insane tools you can think of,” she
told me. “Like, get a broom, put your
canvas on the floor, and see what it’s like to paint with a broom. And really
mess around with medium – pour a whole can of shellac over your oil
paint. There are all these rules about ‘fat over lean,’
but see what happens if you completely disregard them.”
Unsurprisingly, this spring, Sarah was
nominated for “Most Experimental Media.”
Sometimes, when something in a work of art
isn’t working, all you really need to do is switch up your tools or medium to
fix the problem. For example, brush size can make all the difference. Hall, who
went through NYAA for sculpture, pushes materials to their limits. She’s been exploring
themes of mortality and decay for about ten years now and is currently working
with geodes and dry pigments to further this investigation. Her work was recently on display at Los Ojos in Brooklyn. Below, she answers some questions about her materials.
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| System 2 (Grey Aggregate with Carbon Stack). Plywood, enamel floor paint, dry pigment, acrylic paint skins, hydrocal. |
What are you doing with geodes and dry pigment? How do
these materials relate to your investigation of mortality and decay?
As my work has evolved,
the expression of this idea (mortality and decay) has become progressively more
abstract. The geodes and the cast dry pigment fit into a larger category of
work called Cavities - ruptures in paintings, walls and sculptures. Cavities
are about what's inside or underneath a facade, surface or skin, and make me
think of the body, urban decay such as sinkholes and dilapidated
infrastructure, and hollowed-out spaces in nature such as caves and other
geological formations. In my work, sometimes these ruptures are natural forms
such as geodes, and sometimes they are hand made with cast forms that I sink into walls or paintings. Casting dry pigment is another way of creating an
area of decay in a given form. Working with dry pigment and hydrocal is also a
way for me to investigate new ways of painting.
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| System 1 (Ultramarine R7) plywood, enamel floor paint, dry pigment, spray paint transfer, hydrocal (2015) |
You majored in sculpture at NYAA, and now are working more with installation- What caused this shift? What information that you learned at the Academy have you held onto/let go of?
I don't really see it
as that much of a departure. I've studied both painting and sculpture, and what
I'm doing now is a continued investigation of both, although I now consider the
architecture I'm working within as well. My parameters have more to do with my
ideas (memento mori) than with a specific form, and so this has allowed me to
shift between medical imagery, the body, disease, contaminated landscapes,
fossils, and decay within a form in a cohesive way. What I learned at NYAA was
invaluable and in many ways is the backbone of my practice. I think the
information and skill I acquired at the school will continue to resurface in my
work in the future
in different ways.
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Studio shot (untitled) -
materials: plywood, enamel floor paint, dry pigment, acrylic paint skins, hydrocal (2015) |
You tend to shift around a lot in terms of media - how
does this process of changing gears happen for you? How long will you stay in
one medium/process before moving on?
I really like working
with different materials as a way of expressing different ideas - materials
have inherent meaning, and I like either pairing or juxtaposing materials with
my overall concept. Materials are as much part of my visual language as my form
sense, so I don't really move on and leave something else behind. It's more
like expanding my language where at times I circle back and pick something up
again if it serves a purpose.
What music do you listen to while you work?
That's all over the
place and not always music ... Miles Davis, Dosh, New Order, Nine Inch Nails,
NPR, Rachel Maddow… and sometimes nothing. Silence can be a good thing,
especially in this city.
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| Detail of Grey Aggregate (2015) |
