Event
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SMAart Gallery & Studio
February 4 - February 28, 2014Info
1045 Sutter Street San Francisco, CA 94109 Google Map »
Opening Reception: Thursday February 6, 6-9 p.m.
Submerged highlights the work of Natasha Dikareva, Bar Shacterman and Carol Wedemeyer; three artists who use clay to engage with the primordial, mythological and metaphorical place that water holds in the human psyche. Bringing surreal and fluid images to the surface, ideas and feelings submerged in the subconscious are pulled up and given a physical dimension.
Natasha Dikareva's deeply introspective figures morph into imagery from the realm of the subconscious as they reconnect with their primordial selves. The Shell Dwellers enjoy the sounds of the sea echoing within their spiral homes. They experience a somatic connection with the world, feeling with their bodies and releasing their minds. Listening to the rhythm of their own organism, the figures' skin develops images as photographs in a darkroom. Thus the figures themselves become visually integrated with their personal myths and identities, their adventures through labyrinths and deserts, and their encounters with other strange creatures.
Bar Shacterman uses the metaphor of water to relate his interest in making manifest what is submerged in the mind. While in the process of pulling up ideas from his subconscious, he allows them to rearrange themselves in the material of clay. Once these thoughts are articulated in the physical realm - they reveal the submerged landscape from which they originated. Balancing the Scales is a work that pulls feelings and archetypes associated with justice (and injustice) to the surface.
Carol Wedemeyer's nautical sculptures are expressions of the very form and gesture of the ocean. Sweeping lines and curving patterns depict the movement of the water and are also inspired by dance. The Ocean Rockers is a kinetic grouping of waves that rock and sway on rounded bases. The artist is inspired by the expanse of the sea as it affords an opportunity to approach the awe of eternity. She also sees it as a symbol of the collective consciousness as it is simultaneously a precious commodity and the common denominator among all life on earth. Wedemeyer is fascinated by water's ability to both conform to any containment and yet to also carve and shape the very landscape to fit its volume- revealing both the order and chaos of nature. This relates to her own form of creation, using an elliptical coil hand-building method, the process and outcome of which have distinct correlations with Chaos Theory.