On February 15th we met up to view the exhibit at The Mirror by Ben Sanderson called Ouroboros.
This exhibit had been mentioned to me in context of - I should see it as he's used weaving in his work and I'm working with weaving paper at the moment.
I honestly prefer not to do a lot of looking at other artist's work as examples of things I am experimenting with, as I try to avoid being overly influenced by their work. I'm not expecting my work to be overwhelmingly original, BUT, I prefer not to have people saying, "I see the influence of..." or "you really like the work of..." when looking at mine! Even though I deliberately avoid copying, what I think was a result of messing around sometimes gets the response "this looks like..." and damn it - it does!
I took photos of all the work in the installation at The Mirror, since I was there, and had brought my camera.
It was all canvas, except for the one panel in the window which was handmade rag paper (but that was made from pulped canvas apparently.) According to his very detailed handout, he was recycling his art to create these 18 large hanging panels.
While there was some weaving in them, there was also lots of quilting (using typical patterns) and sewing together pieces.
Happily, I am not going to have to worry about being overly influenced in my current work after viewing this.
I am all about recycling one's work and I applaud that. It is a prodigious amount of canvas being reused in this installation. And hopefully the pieces will find homes or be, again, repurposed.
A lot of work went into this installation,,, cutting up canvas, designing, arranging, and sewing, are all physically intensive activities.
I think most are aware I'm more appreciative of art older than my grandmother (1911-1985), with some exceptions. This wasn't an exception.
I liked the rag paper piece, which is called Ouroboros (also the name of the show) mainly because I am interested in making paper myself (have the equipment and materials, but haven't got to it yet...) In his handout he talks about using his blender to create collage that is left to chance. I quite like that analogy.
Ouroboros (noun) is a a circular symbol depicting a snake, or less commonly a dragon, swallowing its tail, as an emblem of wholeness or infinity. I assume (as he doesn't seem to explain it in his handout) this signifies the work being a regurgitation of previous work, or, the new piece is created out of "eating" the old.
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