Mist: from the Space Crystallization Cycle
Ludwika Ogorzelec
May 9th – September 15, 2007
Ludwika Ogorzelec, Mist: from the Space Crystallization Cycle, 2007; plastic film, bamboo, steel wire
Artist Statement
Departing from the conventional understanding of sculpture as solid and heavy, viewed from the outside and made from lasting materials, I choose instead to articulate invisible space through the expression of line and its interplay with the ephemeral mass of space that it encloses.
In my work -- sculpture, drawing and painting -- I strive for the quality of a passing phenomenon that emerges from the worlds of biology, machines and instruments, in a way that allows me to analyze the relationship between sense and absurdity. My work currently consists of two related sculpture cycles. The first is Instruments of Equilibrium, begun In 1981, and through it I search for the moment of balance in these light, delicate, harmonious mobile structures. The second cycle, Space Crystallization, begun in 1990, proceeded from the earlier work, and is a site-specific process employing intersecting lines that are ordered so as to modify the physical space and its customary use. Thus the space is transformed into smaller components (what I think of as "crystals") with the purpose of interacting with the observer's consciousness and sub-consciousness to achieve a new aesthetic and psychological state.
The Space Crystallization cycle, of which this Toronto Sculpture Garden work is a part, invites spectators into active spaces that have the ability to touch basic universal human sensitivities. Someone following the moving lines of these works will adjust to the spatial installation by producing dance-like motions -- bending, ducking or stepping around -- thus experiencing states that extend beyond the boundaries of quotidian biases to reveal cultural biases, the psychological baggage of codes and habits of personal behaviour.
In my creative activities, I give equal expression to intellect, intuition, temperament, my experience, and the psychological state in which I find myself at the time. Each completed sculpture is the sum of my experience to that point and is a step on the road to a new, as yet unknown, domain, rather than a work aiming for virtuosic perfection.
