obelisk, ziggurat, pyramid 2018
15 x 15 in., mirror, resin, acrylic gel, porcelain
Allison Paschke
Artist Statement
My process is an intuitive balancing of the tensions between opposing forces.
Object vs. Place
While each wall piece, sculpture, or installation consists of physical objects, it
also creates a place for the mind. The altered mirrors are soft, distorted worlds
to move past and peer into. Their compositions connote doorways or windows
into which one can enter. Installations become worlds inside myriad tiny
porcelain or resin elements. Small box sculptures form hand-held rooms.
Geometry vs. Imperfection
Geometric purity is balanced by subtle complexity. For example, a perfect
porcelain cube slumps in firing, or a simple square mirror develops richness and
variation with the addition of translucent layers. Geometry is abstract
perfection; variations introduced by materials and process prevent sterility.
The Miniature vs. the Vast
Each piece shifts between tiny and huge. Large wall and installation pieces are
filled with thousands of tiny details that pull viewers into an intimate closeness.
Tiny sculptural or wall pieces contain areas of emptiness that open out into a
void. Hand-held sized porcelain boxes contain a glowing world of indeterminate
scale.
Two vs. Three Dimensions
Enriching flat surface balances flattening a dimensional object, so that each
piece lies between two and three dimensions. A translucent resin block is both a solid object and a permeable plane; flat mirrors are enriched with layers of
translucent materials and resin or porcelain elements; reflections bring in the
dimensionality of the piece’s context.
Fragility vs. Immortality
Changing reflections and delicate, fragile materials imply the ephemeral.
Porcelain is an ideal material to express this paradox, as it is both easy to break
and durable for millennia buried in the earth. Amber resin also is a material
associated with preservation of organisms. Insect pins hold in time creatures
that will ultimately turn to dust. Pyramids are another symbol of the futile bid
for immortality.
Past Group Exhibitions: Structures of Feeling, 2022 Fractal Nature, 2021 Forever is composed of Nows, 2020 Make Make Make: Repetition and Accumulation, 2019 Active directions of the mind, 2019