64a. Sharon Kyle Kuhn | Bay 6 Gallery & Studios 5305 Bolm Road #6 I hope that somebody passing by my work will notice the objects which are embedded in the wax and think about the environment in which these objects once existed, their use and their purpose. My work embodies discarded and once owned materials...materials that are thrown away or no longer have a useful purpose. I take objects which are fascinating to me...and with my intuition guiding me, I begin to place them into wax...and through the encaustic technique of infusing wax and pigment with heat...some objects remain embedded while others rise to the surface. The process of creating with found objects and once used materials is to acknowledge and give rise to experiences, beliefs and memories so often seen as discarded and forgotten. For example, the rusty nails found in an old barn and now embedded in the wax in “A Waxen Simulacra of Displaced Workers” or the discarded and now outdated floppy discs which contain information from the past and are now folded into the wax in “Data Aggregation.” In the creative process, I bring these used materials into a new world of existence by placing them in the wax...an environment of uncertainty for the viewer...perhaps one of mystery. Even though the viewer can see the objects and knows they exist, many of them are embedded so deeply into the wax that their shape or identity is hidden. To discard ones past is impossible, to deny our present is painful and to imagine our future provokes anxiety; yet through this journey of experiences filled with emotional friction...we begin to carve out destiny. With its complexities...our character is given shape. My artwork which includes found objects embedded into wax is similar to the image of our fate which holds all in the copresence of today, yesterday, and tomorrow. |
