Artist Zoë Sheehan Saldaña
Paper Reparation
When I go to a group show of work by visual artists, my tendency is to head straight for the artist whose work drew me to the show. It is not a great habit because my impatience prevents me from taking in the context of a show before exploring individual contributions. When I headed to see Zoë Sheehan Saldaña’s work in a current group show exhibition, my usual viewing habits failed me.
I have had the good fortune of working with Zoë for a few years now at Baruch and have developed a sense of her work through passing conversations with her and through exhibition announcements and press releases. This is the first show I’ve actually seen in person.
As is my habit, I was excited to find her work first and then go back and review all the work as a whole. Well, I couldn’t find it. In fact, at first glance, I couldn’t find anything that reminded me of the work I had seen of hers before. I had come to think of her work as requiring some form of doubles – an original object and a handmade replica of the original object (though there is more to it than that). And I could find no doubles. I refused to give in and ask the gallery assistant for help, so I started to look at the other work more carefully for clues.
Paper, paper, paper. Lots of beautiful paper. I am glad I slowed down to see because the visual effects of these paper works were so striking that it was hard to imagine what you could only know by looking at the accompanying image tags. Each work was handmade – meaning that each sample of paper used to create the images produced was created by the artist. Some of these samples were then sculpted, painted upon, torn and woven, etc.
Once I looked at each piece, I looked around again and asked myself what I had missed. Ah-ha!! There were two objects I had completely overlooked. And of course, those were Zoë’s. And of course, and this is not just because I work with her, they ended up being my favorites. You’ll see.
Although you won’t see them here. I did take photos of each of the pieces but decided not to post them so that you will go see them too. And importantly, photographs do not do them justice. At the risk of being abstract, I am going to write a few words about what happened for me as I viewed these works. And I really encourage you to go see them for yourselves and let us know what happened for you.
First off, I chuckled. “Now that’s smart”, I thought. But I’ll be honest, I don’t love “smart art”, and yet I did love these works. After taking them in more carefully and thinking about the context of the show, I came up with “meticulous reparation”. There is something both stark and caring about these works that brings you immediately to the artist’s process. And I love thinking about the artist’s process.
Zoë’s work alerts the viewer to the detachment of cold mass reproduction and forces you to imagine what she had to do to replicate just one product, or in the case of an art piece, one edition, of what has come to be produced carelessly by machines and assembly lines. Zoë’s work has a strong sense of respect for the history of the objects she so carefully re-creates with her own intricate replications. It is as if she is repairing the violence done to once-were-handmade items of everyday life by the speed and economic efficiency of modern technology. When you see her work, you picture her slowly deconstructing and reconstructing the objects and making decisions about what aspects of the objects to keep and what to discard. I could almost picture her talking to each item as she prepared and assembled it and sent it on its way to its new living space – maybe even patting it once or twice for good luck. It is a reparative process of respect. And one that I encourage you to witness for yourself:
http://www.dieudonne.org/main.cfm?chID=2&inc=press-detail&ID=147
Go now – the show ends December 23rd!
10 comments
We spent so much time with Zoe as our professor, I often forget how stunned I was by those handmade replicas she showed us at the beginning of the semester. As much as our whole class enjoyed the Brother/ Sister Plays, I am disappointed that Zoe did not take us to view her exhibit instead. Thank you for telling us about Zoe’s exhibit, and sharing your thoughts on it.
Our professor is famous!!
If I read correctly, this exhibit is not too far from the Chelsea galleries! When I first learned in class that Zoe had an exhibit in California, I could not help but wonder why not have one in New York? This exhibit sounds very promising and it is from our very own professor! Anyone want to go with me?!
Lynn, thank you for your insight and generosity here (and as always). I’m enjoying your interpretation very much. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Thanks again.
We use paper every day and therefore usually overlook its importance and it potential. We see Zoe every week and therefore may forget the fact that she’s a brilliant artist with innovative ideas. I perfectly agree with what Tiffany said. I wish our class would have a trip to her exhibition. Too bad the class is over~_~ Thanks for sharing Lynn~~
SHE HAS AN EXHIBIT IN NEW YORK!?!?! :O I am very disappointed that we didn’t go see this as a class but maybe some of us will join up to go together. Thank you very much Lynn for everything this semester, you were always working behind the scenes that sometimes we don’t stop to thank you. So again Thank you very much.
And to Zoe our dear professor, I am disappointed that we did not get to see your art in person with you. I want to thank you everything you taught us this semester, especially teaching us how to look and interpret art by ourselves. I had loads of fun. Thanks again for everything.
I hope some of you will go see Zoe’s work and report back with reviews. The class may be over, but the blog lives on! It’s been a great semester working with all of you! //Lynn
Yea, I will definitely try to go see Zoe’s work! Thanks Lynn also for teaching us so much about podcasts, videos and all the technology we now know! I always thought podcasts and blogs were hard to use but you taught it in such a simple way that I always use it now! Thanks once again.
This is so great! I’m trying to imagine just what the exhibit is about by your description, Lynn, but I think I’m going to have to go for myself over the break.
“Zoë’s work alerts the viewer to the detachment of cold mass reproduction and forces you to imagine what she had to do to replicate just one product, or in the case of an art piece, one edition, of what has come to be produced carelessly by machines and assembly lines.”
I love this. I love the thought and the fact that someone (much less our own Zoe!) could pronounce this in their work.
Incredible…
Wow, we spent a whole semester with a master of art and we haven’t yet seen anything she has made in person unfortunately. I remember when we interviewed Zoe for freshman seminar, she said that she was not all about the result or the product, but the process of how the artist decided to articulate the intended meaning. I think that Zoe has really helped us interpret art as a process, not individual pieces.