RESIDENCIES - In Progress

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Afterthoughts - 'Congregation'

In my opinion, artists create self portraits, no matter what the original intention – the outcome of the work reveals self. Try as we might, we reveal our identity, our uniqueness, a signature of our soul. This is how I view one aspect of my recent installation. I did not consciously set out to do this. Once the work was presented, I was struck by several levels of interpretation the work may be subject to or clarification the sculpture would explain, and especially, how it revealed who I am and how I think of myself.

First I realized at least one archetype was dominant in each figure. Some figures could be construed to reveal more than one archetype – or if I think about it some more, maybe more than two... Even the spiral in the central configuration was an archetypal symbol... And further, the shapes that each figure was composed of were abstracted primal symbols – triangular, circular and square. I even began to see some hieroglyphics, pictograms, marks representing sacred iconography in the lines of the figures.

After digesting that revelation, I realized I was describing life stages. Simplification of life stages - but surely they were there. And more, the stages were equal to the next, none more prominent, as if there was a balance. Each was interconnected with the other, and each was blatantly important as the next. –Interestingly, I did not order them sequentially. What did that mean?

Now my questions for myself...

1. So what does this say about me, how does it portray my character, my personality?
2. Why did I call the work Congregation, when none of the figures actually meet? Why do the figures only connect by the spiral, the whirling...?
   

Then I need to understand and explain the shrouding, the emptiness within the figures, the broken fragility of the sculpture, the facelessness.
So what does this say about me, how does it portray my character, my personality?

1. Why did I call the work Congregation, when none of the figures actually meet? Why do the figures only connect by the spiral, the whirling...?
   
2. Then I need to understand and explain the shrouding, the emptiness within the figures, the broken fragility of the sculpture, the facelessness.
3. And finally, the cluster of apple branches placed in the middle of the spiral centre must be clarified, which can be described as the only congregated gathering of any kind in this show.
   
   
   
   

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Kazakhstan Residency

Getting materials for my work, here in Almay requires going to a construction bazaar. Each vendor is independently competing for your business. Here is where I bought expanded mesh wire. I did not speak, as my host, curator Yuliya Sorokina, asked me to NOT SPEAK, having done so while at the previous vendor... the price was adjusted accordingly.

My driver, Shokan, is a stunt driver, when not driving me around for materials. His driving on the streets of Almaty makes me feel like I am driving in a movie scene, like that in the Bourne trilogy... It was suggested, that because he has been driving with such confidence, the chances of an accident are greatly reduced.

Here is the 'store' where plaster was procured. Here, they call it gyps, and as I was requiring the material for sculpture, they assured us it was just for that purpose. Using it, I found it to be full of sand and rocks, as well as a match-book. Not ideal.

This is the gallery space at the State Museum of Art in Almaty Kazakhstan, where my work will live from 30 October - 11 November 2008.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

New Residency

Just waiting for my Visa to Kazakhstan...


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New residency, new thoughts and feelings to aquire, new work to be done... New show to produce... new friend to make. ADVENTURE!

The Word of the Day:

peregrination \pehr-uh-gruh-NAY-shun\, noun:
A traveling from place to place; a wandering.

Peregrination comes from Latin peregrinatio, from peregrinari, "to stay or travel in foreign countries," from peregre, "in a foreign country, abroad," from per, "through" + ager, "land."

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2008/08/26.html

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Venice Show+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

23/10/2007 -


Canal – Ebb and Flow, is a sculpture installation at Associazione Culturale Spiazzi by Debora Alanna. The work is about a concept of passage, and the oscillation between waning energy and fluidity in uninterrupted movement of conscious and unconscious thought. Inspired by the wake from the vapporetti, and gondolas on the canals of Venice, the movement of the boats breaking the water‘s stillness, unrelenting, moving forward distorting surfaces; the water remains unchallenged. The canal holds all surface warps and entwining penetrations, and remains an unaffected system, a way to and from somewhere. Coming or going, the surface is thrust into undulating forms. The work is a steadfast concentration on forms that do not fluctuate, that are statuesque, in that they impose stillness upon the viewer, requiring concerted enquiry. There is no geography or architecture to give it reference. This work is about movement, but does not move. It is ceremonious as a meditative offering, discovering form and content, allowing the undulations of ebbs and flows to be still for sustained viewing. The canal is the emotional space that is created by the expectant forms that have optimistically emerged as sculpture. d_alanna@yahoo.caper saperne di più sul lavoro di Debora AlannaGli eventi sono organizzati in collaborazione con il Comune di Venezia – Assessorato alla Produzione Culturale/ Cultura e Spettaco Associazione Culturale Spiazzi Castello 386530122 Venezia infospiazzi@libero.itwww.spiazzi.info Tel. +39 041 5239711


Creating Quality of Being... d_alanna@yahoo.ca


Embellish4art Canal: Ebb and Flow
Exhibition of Sculpture Friday, 26th of October, 2007 6pm
Debora Alanna


Ass.ne Culturale Spiazzi, VeneziaCanal - Ebb and Flow - Canale - Flusso e Riflusso Istallazione dell‘artista canadese Debora Alanna nella corte interna di SpiazziDal 26 Ottobre al 21 Novembre - Vernissage venerdì 26 Ottobre alle 18.30Un’installazione dell’artista canadese Debora Alanna. Il lavoro esplora il concetto di passaggio, e l’oscillazione fra il descrescere dell’energia e la fluidità in un ininterrotto movimento fra pensiero conscio ed inconscio. Tutto prende ispirazione dalla scia che le barche lasciano sui canali veneziani, quel movimento che provoca una “rottura” nell’immobilità dell’acqua, che sposta e distorce la sua superficie; un’acqua che anche se provocata non accetta la sfida. Il canale trattiene tutto l’intreccio simile ad un ordito che vi si specchia mantenendo però la sua pura inalterabilità, una via per e da qualche parte. Da o verso la superficie viene spinta nella direzione delle forme ondulate.Il lavoro è una concentrazione costante di forme non fluttuanti, statuarie, in questo esse svelano a colui che le guarda nella loro immobilità.Non c’è alcun riferimento alla geografia o all’architettura. Questo è un lavoro sul movimento ma non si muove. E’ come se scaturisse da un’offerta cerimoniale, che scopre forma e contenuto e che permette alle ondulazioni del flusso e riflusso di placarsi davanti ad un intenso sguardo. Il canale può considerarsi lo spazio emozionale che si crea dalle speranzose forme che ottimisticamente emergono e diventano scultura.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Canal

This is some work in progress for my show at Spiazzi (Associazione Culturale Spiazzi) in Venice, Italy. It will likely take place on the 26th, a Friday. I am calling the work Canal - Ebb and Flow.

The reason for this title, besides the obvious geographical reference, is the concept of passage, and the oscillation between waning energy and fluidity in uninterrupted movement of conscious and unconscious thought. The wake from the vapporetti, the movement of the gondolas breaking the water's stillness, unrelenting, moving forward with surfaces changed, but the water remains unchallenged.

The canal contains all penetration, and remains a way to and from somewhere. Coming or going, the surface is thrust with undulating forms. This is where the inspiration for my series here comes from.

But this is more than living in Venice, and observing its functionality. The work demands a steadfast concentration on forms that do not fluctuate, that are statuesque, in that they impose upon the viewer, requiring concentrated evaluation. In the video barrage of contemporary culture, this act of concentrated viewing may be unfamiliar. There are no buildings to give it reference, such as the statues on cathedrals or cherubs on ceilingwork.

This work is about movement, but does not move. It is ceremonious as a meditative offering, discovering form and content, allowing the undulations of ebbs and flows to be still for sustained viewing.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/canal

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ebb


http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flow

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

From there to here...

The last time I wrote here, I was struggling with producing a show. Now, having produced and exhibited 3 solo shows and been in one group show this year, I needed to decompress. Can Serrat is a residency near El Bruc, around 40 km from Barcelona. It seems to an ideal place to get reaquainted with myself, rest, and get spiritually centred. I feel that next year will be a gargantuan whirlwind of activity, although I have no idea why I say this.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Verrocchio show

The Venetian light was slow in appearing. Rain soaked bags up and down campos, after a ferry ride to Rialto, lugging heavy luggage up and down stairs, nearly into a canal, up narrow dead-ends and back over cobbled streets, finding 'Planet Bar', a rendezvous for the landlord... finally.


The 10 hours of travel from Casole d'Elsa









with 3 transfers prior to setting foot in this watery city proved to be eventful.
Trains changed platforms of departure continuously - while waiting for one train at #5 - it was changed to #3 and #1 within 15 minutes. One station - Pisa - had elevators. Florence, and the station on the mainland before Venice did not. Kind strangers felt inclined to assist with hoisting the heavy suitcases with me some of the time - up & down stairs, and onto and off trains, sometimes. Being a working artist, and carrying garments for 2-3 season and tools is a daunting journey, especially when there is any distance to be made en route to the destination.


The crisp autumnal air pervades, and sitting with an espresso dopio and vino rosso, there is some solace knowing where my designation is. After a 3 hr. search or the address, I found the gallery/residency/workspace, SPIAZZI.





Situated near Campo San Martino, at the end of a bridge on an estuary of a canal, it is an inauspicious doorway, signified by a fading print of its name on the side of the ancient door. The door number refers to a whole area of the Arsenale district.

Large felt curtains greet the visitor before entering the gallery.
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Sitting in a plaza opposite a naval museum, one cannot help wondering if the patio this cafe is situated on was reclaimed from the canal. Porticoes seem eroded by the former waterways. A water taxi passes under a re-articulated bridge made of wood and metal steps, easing to the plaza with rounded stone steps. Cafe dwellers shoe away the birds, which seem to b uninhibited enough to light on tables and would perch on glasses, if allowed. Vegetation is scarce in Venice. A sad tree, some pots of flowers is all that is seen of any natural foliage, and habitation for the flying creatures.

Corroded and encrusted doorways, the smell of stagnation, giant lions and shlepers of boxes, creates, pictures and bags jostle between tourists hoisting cameras and knapsacks.

A parade of people looking upward - onward, staring unabashedly, drinking in history - the marvel that this place exists at all - and I am one of these.