LYNNE HARLOW
EXHIBITIONS
MINUS SPACE en Oaxaca: Panorama de 31 artistas internacionales, Multiple Cultural Venues, Oaxaca, Mexico, March 15 – April 30, 2012
Escape from New York, The Engine Room, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, April 22 – May 8, 2010
Escape from New York, Project Space Spare Room, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, May 8-29, 2009
Minus Space, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center / MoMA, NYC, October 19, 2008 – May 4, 2009
Lynne Harlow: BEAT, December 2007
Escape from New York, Sydney Non Objective, Sydney, Australia, August 3 – September 2, 2007
STATEMENT
How little is enough? How much can be taken away before a piece crumbles? I arrive at my pieces by reducing physical and visual information. This process of reduction, a steady taking away, is ultimately intended to be an act of generosity. In each piece I’m looking for the point at which these reductions allow me to give the most. It’s an appealing contradiction because it prompts one to reconsider the concept of abundance and the nature of giving.
My sculptural installations are lean, elegant arrangements of color, light and space; they are presentations of physical facts. So much of our daily living is the combined experience of physical navigation and visual analysis, which we do with varying degrees of consciousness. I want to isolate and exaggerate particular aspects of the ways we encounter and negotiate our physical world, and bring some awareness and joy to the process. And I feel that the most effective way for me to achieve this is by presenting these installations, these restrained arrangements of facts. With restricted use of very particular materials, frequently sheer and lightweight, the installations suggest the presence of light and the absence of weight.
With their limited components, the installations delineate spaces that can be navigated and explored, both visually and physically, by their viewers. The arrangements encourage particular movements and responses in the space, but they do not dictate the exact nature of those actions. In this sense, I am setting up an incomplete choreography, a situation that gives some but not full information regarding how and where a body should move. These pieces then rely on the participant to absorb and synthesize the given information and thus complete the piece with his own thoughts and actions. Most important in this situation is the resulting relationship of trust and collaboration between the artist and participant.
The smaller wall works, which include gouaches, material constructions and prints, are more focused explorations of surface, light, material and color. Unlike the sculptural installations, the wall works place less emphasis on spatial arrangement and bodily movement. Instead, they emphasize visual perception. These pieces act as close-ups of the essential components of the installations.
INTERVIEWS
How Little is Enough: Interview with Lynne Harlow, by Brent Hallard, Visual Discrepancies blog, May 25, 2009
Interview with Lynne Harlow, by Matthew Deleget, September 2003
SELECT WORKS
